


Take Me Back to Altissia

by StephirothWasTaken



Series: Genderbent AUs [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Prophecy (Final Fantasy XV), Amnesia, F/M, Female Noctis Lucis Caelum, Genderbending, Kidnapping, No Beta, Pregnancy, heavy use of fake names, the author still doesn't know how to name things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-29 12:23:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20796590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StephirothWasTaken/pseuds/StephirothWasTaken
Summary: (Formerly Titled "I Long to Go Back to Altissia")Princess Noctis Lucis Caelum and her advisor-in-training Ignis Scientia went missing during a family trip just outside the city of Insomnia.Twelve years later, King Regis receives a call from an old friend that  he has found the missing princess in Altissia.(The first two chapters have been completely rewritten and explores deeper into the story than previously.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be GladNoct, but then I felt it was really OOC. So, I changed it to IgNoct, but then I realized that was also OOC. I considered PromTis, but then I felt it didn't make sense.  
IgNoct is my favorite pairing out of the chocobros, so that's what I went with in the end.
> 
> BTW, I'll add more tags when I can. Like a warning that Iggy and Noct have pseudonyms that might make it confusing.
> 
> Edit: The first chapter is now fully rewritten and gets you deeper into the story than the two chapters I had previously posted! I've also changed the rating because I'm not getting as dirty with this as I had originally planned.
> 
> And I warn you that I have never studied Italian but used it very liberally anyway.

**Ignis Scientia**

-_Twelve Years Ago_-

“Please, Bahamut,” Ignis whispered as he held Noctis's little hand, “please don’t take Noctis away.”

Ignis had lost count of all the times he had prayed over Noctis’s body. He had begged and pleaded with the Astrals to heal her, to make her wake up, but it had been weeks since they had escaped from the clutches of the Niflheim Empire, weeks since she had sustained a terrible head injury. It brought an intense pain to his chest to think the Princess of Lucis might sleep forever.

They had been on a family trip to celebrate her eighth birthday. King Regis had fought with his security guards to make sure they brought as few people as possible to create the illusion of privacy on her special day. Only the King and Princess’s closest friends had gone, but some of those friends had not been friends at all.

Much of the fight was a blur to Ignis. He had found Noctis laying on the ground, blood pouring from a gash in her head, and he had crawled to her, crying and gasping at the pain from his own terrible injuries. One of the Kingsglaive soldiers, face obscured by their own crown-issued masks, had _giggled_ as they had examined her head, and then they had unceremoniously thrown her into the back of a vehicle.

Ignis had no explanation for why they had taken him, too, but it had been a foolish decision on their part. Even with his terrible injuries, he had escaped from them with an unconscious princess in his arms, and he had slipped onto a ferry going to Altissia. They had been lucky when he had overheard that a ship had crashed near the port city, and he had had the perfect excuse why he and Noctis were injured, alone, and without proper documentation.

Now with aliases, emergency services had taken them to a hospital where Ignis had explained to them they were step-siblings from Tenebrae, and no one had questioned their story. The doctors had fixed his injuries to the best of their abilities, and then a social worker had come and forced him into an orphanage while Noctis had remained at the hospital to heal from her far more serious injuries.

After escaping from the clutches of trained military men, Ignis found sneaking out of the orphanage much easier, and he checked on his princess every day, spending as much time with her as possible. She never moved, except for the occasional twitch of her fingers or eyebrows, and Ignis only moved from her side when someone dragged him out of the room.

Ignis tried his best to never lose hope. He _knew_ Noctis was going to wake one day whether it was on her own or after the King rescued them. She would likely never be the same little girl he had once known, but having her at all would be good enough for him.

Ignis leaned forward, and he pressed a tear-stained cheek to the back of Noctis’s hand. There was a twitch in her fingers. She had made this subtle movement several times over the weeks, and still, his heart fluttered with hope as he looked at her.

Two sapphire blue eyes looked back at him.

“Noctis,” Ignis gasped, and he gave the hand in both of his a gentle squeeze.

His princess only frowned at him while a smile spread across his face. Tears pricked his eyes, blurring his vision, but he would not dare release her hand any more than necessary.

“It’s good to see you’re finally awake,” he said.

Ignis pressed the “call nurse” button, and he opted to say nothing more while Noctis’s eyes shifted around the room, taking in her unfamiliar surroundings. He wanted to tell her so much, but with her head injury, he was afraid of distressing her or even causing her pain.

An older woman with all-white hair pulled back into a neat bun entered the room. She wore a red and white coat with the Empire’s emblem on it. The sight of it made Ignis tense, and he felt acid rise in his throat.

The older woman grabbed the clipboard hanging at the end of the bed. After a moment, she looked at Ignis.

“You’re her stepbrother?” she said in the Niflheimr language rather than the Accordan he had expected.

Ignis gulped. His Accordan was stronger than his Niflheimr, and besides that, he was lucky to have so far met people who did not recognize his accent as Insomnian rather than Tenebraen. He feared it would be obvious to her in Niflheimr.

“My-my Niflheimr is terrible,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you or are you not her step-brother?” the woman said, and Ignis flinched at the tone.

“I am.”

“How much can she speak?”

“No Niflheimr or Accordan.”

The woman nodded, and she took another look at the clipboard before she asked him to translate her questions for her.

“What is your name?” Ignis translated, grateful that it was a simple question.

Noctis frowned. She laid there for a moment in silence, but then she shook her head.

“You don’t know your name?” Ignis asked, feeling an ache in his chest.

“I don’t know,” Noctis muttered.

Ignis looked at the woman as he opened his mouth to tell her, but the woman was already making notes in Noctis’s paperwork. She asked another question:

“Do you know what year it is?”

Tears were forming in Noctis’s eyes, and she clenched her hands around the blanket covering her.  
  
“I don’t know.”

The woman sighed, and she hung the clipboard to the end of the bed. She turned to Ignis, eyes soft with pity.

“Do you understand Accordan?” the woman asked in heavily accented Accordan.

“Better than Niflheimr, yes, ma’am.”

“It’s very clear she is suffering from amnesia. Normally we would suggest that you surround her with familiar things, familiar people, and familiar places, but with the two of you being from Tenebrae, I am afraid that will be impossible.”

“Will she recover any of her memories?”

“Even if she could go back to Tenebrae and be with her family, I’m sorry to say that would be unlikely, but I can’t say it would be impossible.”

“Ah.”

“Aurora is recovering well physically, but I’m afraid there’s not much that can be done about her memories. I’ll leave you to speak to her, but in a few hours, I will have an officer escort you back to the orphanage.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Ignis stood, and he bowed low, crossing his arms in front of his chest in the salute that Niflheimr people were taught to do. The woman scoffed.

“I’m a doctor, not a soldier.”

Then she left them alone in the room. Ignis sat next to the bed again, and he looked at Noctis, who was watching him through watery eyes. Some of her black hair clung to her tear-stained face, and Ignis fought the urge to brush it away. He was afraid the motion might have frightened her.

Ignis wished his next words could be the truth, but they were in enemy territory. The emperor of Niflheim has been trying to destroy Lucis for as long as anyone could remember, and with the Lucian Princess in one of his territories, he could risk no one catching wind of who she was, even if his own life depended upon it.

“I understand you don’t know who I am,” Ignis said. “Your name is Aurora Diemque. I am Viridi Consiliario. You don’t remember, but we’re family. Your mother and my father brought us to Tenebrae when we were young, and when they met, they fell in love and married. We were very close, and I swear to you I will protect you.”

* * *

-_Present Day_-

Ignis walked into the apartment with his back and feet sore from working all day long. After six years of waiting tables, one would think he would be used to it by now, but he just seemed to come home sorer each time.

“Rory, I’m home!” Ignis called as he removed his shoes from his tired feet.

Sweat soaked through his socks, and he took them off before setting his bare feet on the floor. He sprayed deodorant into his shoes before setting them next to Noctis’s by the door.

Ignis held his socks away from him as he walked to the kitchen, trying not to panic about her lack of response. Noctis had always been prone to falling asleep. If given the chance, she would sleep the entire day away, and it could be difficult to wake her.

Just as expected, he found the black-haired beauty sitting at the kitchen table, head resting on her arm as she napped. Her hand sat on her thigh like she had fallen asleep rubbing her protruding belly. His shoulders lowered as the tension eased out of his body, a pleasant warmth rolling through him.

Ignis took the socks into the bedroom, where he found that the hamper was empty. He looked toward the balcony. Noctis had left their clothes to dry out there. In the bathroom, she had hung up her delicates over the bathtub. She had folded up their dark clothes and left them sitting on the sink.

While he had never considered her lazy, it surprised Ignis that Noctis had done so much laundry. Her pregnancy exhausted her faster than even one of her most difficult days of work ever had, and she was more than happy for the excuse to sleep all day.

Ignis threw his socks in the hamper. He took down the underwear, and he put them and the dark clothes in their proper places. Then, he stripped naked, adding his clothes into the hamper, and he took a quick shower to clean off the smells of the restaurant before he offended Noctis’s sensitive nose with them.

Once he was clean and clothed, Ignis went back to the kitchen. He grabbed the hand in Noctis’s lap, and he rubbed circles into her skin as he leaned forward and called to her. She groaned first, and she nuzzled her face into her arm.

“Rory, darling, if you’re tired, perhaps you should go to bed. Napping in a chair can’t be comfortable.”

Noctis groaned as she sat upright, brushing her hair out of her face.

“Didi?”

“Yes, I’m home, darling.”

Noctis yawned, and then she leaned forward and slid her arms around his shoulders. She kissed his neck, and she rested her head on his shoulder. He felt soft puffs of her breath on his neck, and it made him shiver.

“I’m hungry,” she said, earning a chuckle from Ignis.

“Should I make dinner, then?”

“_Signora Dioli_ brought us some ravioli. I can heat us up some so you can have a break.”

“Ah, I’ll have to thank her later.”

“I already mopped her kitchen, so we’re even.”

“Still, that was kind of her.”

“I think she believes you’re starving me, but what she doesn’t know is that I couldn’t cook if my life depended on it.”

Ignis chuckled, recalling the few times she had tried to cook something for herself. It had always ended in Noctis crying while trying to figure out how to hide the resulting scorch marks.

“I have offered to teach you,” he reminded her.

“There’s no hope for me.”

“There’s hope for everyone willing to try.”

Noctis pulled away to give him a skeptical look, her sapphire eyes bright despite her sleepiness.

“How optimistic of you,” she said.

Just as Ignis parted his lips to retort something, Noctis pecked him on the lips with a giggle.

“Come on,” she continued. “Let me heat up dinner.”

Ignis kissed her, and he only let her go when she swatted his arm and giggled. He collapsed into the chair after she left it, and he watched her dig through the refrigerator to find the ravioli that their landlord had given them. She rubbed her belly as she waited for the microwave to finish heating his dish first.

When she had first told him of the pregnancy, Ignis had been prepared to sit down with her and explain what a terrible idea it was to have a child in their current financial situation, but then she had settled a hand over her stomach and given him the brightest smile he had ever seen. There was no telling her “no” when it was clear she had never wanted anything more.

Ignis had been aware of her desire for children, but he had hoped the opportunity would come when they were financially stable. Having children was a difficult and expensive journey for everyone, but in the Empire, it was impossible, especially for two people unable to find better jobs than basic restaurant work. Even more so when Noctis had to quit because the stress had been causing her pain in her pregnancy.

A trilling pulled Ignis out of his thoughts. It was a phone, a device more primitive than the one Ignis had learned to use while in Lucis, but he felt they were lucky to have one at all in the Empire. Ignis hopped to his feet just as Noctis turned toward the sound.

“I’ll get it, darling,” he said, and he pressed a kiss to her temple as he left.

“I hope it’s that fancy place!” Noctis called to him.

The phone was an ugly black brick sitting on the table near the door. Ignis pressed the headset to his ear.

“_Signor Consiliario_?”

Ignis’s heart leaped in his chest as he recognized the voice of Weskham Armaugh, the owner of the prestigious Maagho. It was rare for the restaurant to post ads asking for apprentices, and when Maagho had finally put one out, he had put in an application without hesitation. The chances of him getting a job at the restaurant had been slim, especially with him having to hide the training he had had with a professional chef as a little boy, but he had wanted to take the chance, anyway.

Ignis took a deep breath before he spoke:

“Yes, _signore_, I am Viridi Consiliario.”

“Good, good. I’ve come across your application to my apprenticeship program, and I was wondering what sparked your interest in my little restaurant.”

Ignis could have mentioned that Maagho was so popular that even Insomnians had heard of it despite the two countries being at war with each other, but he knew that was not what the owner was looking for him to say.

“I have had the privilege of trying your special lasagna when I was a boy. I’ve found myself in love with your restaurant ever since.”

Weskham chuckled, and Ignis’s heart clenched, hoping that was a good sign.

“My, how flattering!”

“Your food is quite lovely, _signore_.”

“Tell me a bit about yourself, _Signor Consiliario_.”

The personality questions were the worst in every job interview. To Ignis, he felt he had the personality of a cardboard box, and everyone hiring him knew that he just needed the cash and had very limited ways of obtaining it as an orphan. Besides that, he had so many skills that he could not tell them because it could ruin everything for the one person he cared for more than anything in this world.

“Growing up, my uncle loved to cook,” Ignis said. “I looked up to him quite a lot, and I learned so much about cooking from him. I’ve worked at many restaurants here, all in hopes of learning more.”

“What is it about cooking that you enjoy?”

Ignis thought of all the times Noctis had smiled after eating one of his meals, particularly the first smile after they had sneaked into the orphanage kitchen, and he had tried his best to make a dessert she had adored before their kidnapping. The rush of warmth he had felt that day was unmatched even twelve years later.

“It’s a language of love,” he answered. “It has brought happiness to those I care about during their darkest times, and sharing that joy with others is a deep and purely selfish pleasure of mine.”

“Ah, a lovely answer,” Armaugh said.

Ignis caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to find Noctis standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, and he returned the smile.

“All right, _Signor Consiliario_,” Armaugh continued. “I believe I’ve heard enough. I would like to invite you to a proper in-person interview.”

Ignis’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and his heart leaped in his chest.

“_Signore, molte grazie!_”

“I understand you’re working now, so don’t feel guilty if you have a demanding schedule. Would tomorrow morning be a good time for you?”

“_Sì, sì, signore_! I can make that.”

Ignis wrote down the specific time he was expected to arrive on a discarded piece of mail, and Armaugh ended the call with him. Noctis pressed herself to his side. She looked at him with wide eyes.

“Rory,” he said, and a grin spread across his face as he wrapped his arms around his fiancée. “He’s asked for another interview tomorrow.”

Noctis grinned. She stood on her toes to kiss him, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  
“Didi, you’re an amazing chef,” she said. “You’ll leave a big impression on him.”

“Oh, I’m hardly a chef.”

“If the hacks running half the restaurants in this city can call themselves ‘chefs,’ then I think you’re more than qualified to call yourself a chef.”

Ignis sighed, and he held Noctis tighter to himself, burying his face in her hair.

“Let’s hope I don’t obliterate my chances of becoming a real one tomorrow.”

“You’ll do wonderful. He’d be stupid not to take you.”

Ignis felt the fluttering of their child against his abdomen, and for the first time since the child’s conception, the feeling did not bring with it the feeling of impending financial hardships. He was not guaranteed the apprenticeship yet, but it would be a paid apprenticeship—higher paying than what Ignis had been making with two jobs. If it worked out, they would live so much better than they had been before.

Noctis drew away, and she kissed him on the nose.

“Our dinner is getting cold,” she reminded him. “Let’s go eat.”

* * *

-_The Next Morning_-

Ignis had been reluctant to disentangle himself from Noctis’s naked form that morning, especially when she had whined about the cold, but he had wanted to spend extra time on his appearance before leaving for the interview. He had given her a kiss before leaving, receiving a sleep-roughened “good luck,” then he had gone to the gondola stop, where he found another young man already standing in wait.

The other man was shorter than Ignis, and he had bleached blond hair and brown eyes. A dimple formed in his cheek as he smiled and nodded at Ignis in greeting. Ignis returned the gesture, but with the churning in his belly, he knew the smile looked strained.

Luckily, they only stood in awkward silence for a few seconds before the gondolier arrived. Gondola rides were expensive, but it was the only way to arrive at Maagho. Armaugh had promised reimbursement, but handing the man a large amount of gil felt wrong.

The other man was also headed to Maagho. It made sense that Armaugh would want to interview multiple people, but now he was even more worried that someone else would get an apprenticeship instead of him.

“_Signor Armaugh_ asked you for an interview as well,” the young man said.

“He did.”

“My name is Domenico.”

Domenico held out his hand to Ignis, and he squeezed hard when Ignis took it. Part of Ignis wished he was not so familiar with the ridiculous posturing young man did in this city, but it pleased a part of him when the other man winced at his return squeeze.

“Viridi.”

“Ah, it’s odd to hear a noble’s name in this part of the city.”

“I was born in Tenebrae. None of my family survived.”

Domenico’s expression turned grim, and he nodded.

“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, but then he smirked. “But don’t think I’ll go easy on you. I’ve been cooking with my grandmother all of my life, and she’s the best in Accordo.”

Ignis quirked an eyebrow at the man, but he gave him a subtle smirk of his own.

“Hm, we shall see how much you’ve learned from her if she’s truly the best.”

Their ride felt long, but as they reached the small restaurant sitting on its own in the middle of the city, he felt his heart flutter with excitement. Even if he did not land the apprenticeship, he was glad he had at least gotten the chance to see the prestigious restaurant.

Boats lined up along the edge of the restaurant, and workers carried boxes into the building. Weskham Armaugh, a man with graying cornrows, a monocle, and an exquisite, tailored suit, stood in the middle, directing the men around his kitchen. He turned when the gondolier called that they were at their stop.

“Ah, gentlemen!” Armaugh called as he approached them. “You’ve both made it just on time. Very good!”

Just as promised, Weskham gave them the money they had spent on the gondola, and then he instructed them to go into the back to don their smocks and wash up while he negotiated with the salesmen on the boats. Despite his nerves, Ignis buttoned up his smock without trouble, but poor Domenico fumbled with the buttons a few times before he was ready.

“Good morning, gentleman,” he said as they dried their hands. “Thank you for coming so early in the morning.”

“Good morning, _signore_!” both Domenico and Ignis said as they bowed in front of the proprietor.

Weskham looked more annoyed than pleased with the gesture, but he plopped a box on the counter. Ignis found a variety of vegetables, bottles of olive oil, wine, and spices inside it.

“In your phone interviews,” Armaugh began as he laid out the ingredients, dividing them up evenly on either side of the box, “you both said that you loved cooking for others, so today, I will observe you while you cook. I am giving you the same ingredients, and I want to see what either of you come up with.”

Once all the food was laid out, Weskham went to the refrigerator, and he selected two fish: 

Lucinian sea bass, it looked like. It was a fish commonly found in the supermarkets, and he had cooked with it hundreds of times already. Although he could never afford the quality of fish that Armaugh placed down before him.

“I will open Maagho in two hours,” Armaugh announced. “Be sure to have it finished before then.”

The proprietor pointed out where they could find their utensils, and then he prepared for the opening of his restaurant alongside his assistants.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ignis noticed Domenico get to work immediately, but Ignis took a moment to assess the food Armaugh had given him. It was all high-quality food, which he had not seen since his violent removal from Lucis, and for the first time he was so glad he had taken the time to write down all the recipes he had learned as a boy because he had one in mind that he would always make for Noctis whenever he had the chance.

Less than a half-hour later, Ignis finished his dish. His hands were steady, to his surprise, as he presented it to Armaugh.

“Ah, you’ve finished early,” Armaugh said as he grasped the fork that Ignis had already provided for him. “Tell me about this dish.”

“It is parmesan-crusted fish fillets on top of rice with a tomato and black olives topping and a white wine sauce.”

Armaugh’s face revealed nothing as he tasted the dish. He nodded, but he said nothing about it before he called for Domenico to come over and try it himself. The man’s face showed disappointment as he ate it, and Ignis took that as a good sign. The tension in his body left him.

“Ah, it tastes very good,” Domenico admitted reluctantly.

“Please wait until Domenico also finishes his dish,” Armaugh said.

Ignis sat and waited. The assistants all took a taste of it, and they each praised the dish before immediately returning to work. It felt awkward to watch the older man while he worked, but he knew Armaugh would shoo him away if he offered to help. He was hosting a fair competition after all.

It was not long before Domenico offered his own dish to Armaugh. He had made a fish soup that had required more vegetables than Ignis’s recipe had. While Ignis thought it could have used a pinch more salt, he enjoyed it, and he told Domenico so.

Armaugh did not give them an immediate answer about their apprenticeship. Instead, he asked them to assist him in preparing food for the day. It filled Ignis with pride when he discovered he was better at filleting a whole fish than Domenico.

When it was time for Maagho to open, Armaugh asked Domenico and Ignis to gather near him. They returned their smocks, and Armaugh appraised them both with a smile.

“Both of you did very well today,” he said. “You’ve created delightful dishes, and you’ve demonstrated that you have more than the basics down pat. I am very pleased with you.”

Ignis spared a glance at Domenico, who looked just as scared as Ignis felt with his pallid face.  
Armaugh pulled out a folder from beneath a counter, and he pulled out paper packets, which he placed in front of them.

“Congratulations to both of you,” he elaborated. “I’ve selected you both as my apprentices. You will begin in two weeks on Monday. All you need to do is fill out these forms so I can get you started.”

Ignis blinked at the form held in front of him. He had explicitly read in the application there was to be only one apprentice.

Armaugh chuckled.

“No, this is not a mistake,” he said. “I wish to teach both of you. You have displayed passion and great promise today, and I want to encourage that.”

They took their forms, and Armaugh handed them pens to fill them out. As he read through and completed the questions, he felt the confusion dissipate into excitement. He imagined the smile that would appear on Noctis’s face when he told her the news, and a stupid smile spread across his own face.

“You’ve done well, friend,” Domenico said after a while. “When I tasted your dish, I thought for sure, you would have the spot. It’s much better that we both got it.”

“Indeed. Your dish gave me a fright as well.”

As a native speaker of Accordan, it was no surprise that Domenico completed the form before Ignis, but he completed his before the next gondola arrived, allowing them to ride on the same gondola again.

* * *

-_Two Weeks Later_-

Ignis came home sore, tired, and ultimately pleased that he had worked his final days at both of his jobs. The next day, he would start his apprenticeship with Weskham Armaugh, proprietor of one of the most prestigious establishments in Altissia. He looked forward to eating the leftover food he had brought with him from work and holding Noctis as she babbled about a silly cartoon she had watched while cleaning the apartment.

Shifting both of the takeout bags to one hand, Ignis unlocked the door of the apartment, and he froze when an unfamiliar voice spoke in heavily accented Accordan:

“Eh, that is hard to say.”

Noctis chuckled.

“It’s not nearly as complicated as Lucian,” she said.

Ignis’s heart sped in his chest. She did not sound distressed in the slightest, but it was odd to hear a stranger in his apartment. Noctis had never been social, preferring quiet nights in with Ignis to spending time with her peers as friends, so he could not help but feel alarmed.

Ignis looked at the shoes beside the door as he slipped his own off. Noctis’s dainty flats were next to combat boots. They looked brand new, and they were not Imperial-issued. This troubled him even more. He carried the takeout bags with him into the kitchen, and he found Noctis sitting at the kitchen table. Across from her was a blond man covered in freckles, and his pale blue, purple-hued eyes widened when he turned them toward Ignis.

“Oh, Didi!” Noctis exclaimed. “I’m sorry. I must have lost track of time.”

Ignis glanced at Noctis, and the tension in his chest eased when he saw she was fine. She had the normal fatigue in her face from the pregnancy, but she otherwise looked pleased. He narrowed his eyes at the stranger, who shifted his eyes back and forth between him and Noctis, lips pressed flat with nerves.

Noctis stood, and she snaked her arms around his neck as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Didi, this is Helianthus,” she said, gesturing toward the blond stranger. “He’s a student from Lucis.”

Helianthus hopped to his feet, and he held out his hand for Ignis to shake. After shifting the bags to one hand, Ignis reluctantly took it, and the blond man pumped his hand without stopping while he spoke.

“Uh, hey, you’re Viridi, right?” Helianthus said in Lucian. “She said you understand Lucian, which is sooo nice because my Accordan is really, really bad, and no one has understood me so far, which really sucks. But it’s not unexpected or anything. It’s just been really hard for me to pick up, so I’m really grateful that there is at least someone who can understand me.”

Ignis quirked an eyebrow at the strange man, who finally let go of his hand, and then he looked at Noctis, who shrugged and smiled.

“What is this doing in our kitchen, darling?” Ignis asked her in Niflheimr.

Noctis scowled at him, and she swatted him on the shoulder. When she spoke, it was in Accordan:

“Be nice! He just moved into the apartment building. He seemed lost, so I helped him. He’s been very polite.”

Ignis turned back to Helianthus, who flashed him a nervous grin.

“Yes, she’s, ah, a good teacher,” he said in his poor Accordan, likely to impress Noctis.

Ignis nodded, and he carried the takeout to the counter.

“Student from Lucis?” he repeated, recalling what Noctis had said.

“Y-yeah, I’m a photography student,” Helianthus said, returning to his native tongue. “Since the ceasefire, the Empire has been allowing some students into their territories, and I got the gig! Altissia has been my dream place to go as a photographer!”

Ignis had heard of the ceasefire, but no one in Altissia had believed in it. Lucis and Niflheim had had many ceasefires between them throughout history, but something had always happened that had thrusted them into war again. Most people had assumed the ceasefire another farce, but supposedly, Helianthus was proof of otherwise.

That was, if what he was saying was the truth. His eyes seemed to have a habit of shifting all over the place when he spoke.

“You can get degrees in photography?” Noctis asked.

“Yeah, it’s suuuuper expensive, but it’ll be totally worth it when I’m done. I’ve made so many friends, and I’ve learned so much from my teachers and friends!”

“Do you have any examples of your work?”

Helianthus grimaced, and he scratched the back of his neck.

“Uh, one of the rules here is that I can’t use a smartphone, and my camera’s all the way in my apartment. And I haven’t gotten many pictures taken since I arrived because I’ve been really busy—”

“You have a smartphone?” Noctis interrupted, eyes bright with curiosity.

Helianthus’s eyebrows pressed together.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I do. Is that not—I mean—”

“I’m afraid that certain advanced technologies are rather difficult for ordinary Imperial citizens to afford,” Ignis said.

“Ah, that’s—That’s too bad.”

Helianthus tapped his toes on the floor a few times, and he bit his bottom lip as he thought. Eventually, he scratched the back of his head, forcing a smile across his lips.

“Ah, I should go,” he said, going back to Lucian. “I don’t want to intrude on anything.”

“You can stay,” Noctis protested, and she batted her beautiful blue eyes at Ignis. “Didi, tell Heli he’s invited to dinner.”

The last thing Ignis wanted was to have this strange man hanging around the princess of Lucis any longer, but he could never turn down those beautiful eyes of hers. Helianthus spluttered an answer before he had a chance to say anything:

“No, no, I, ah, I’ve got a lot of stuff I have to do. I should have done them sooner, actually, but I, you know, got distracted. _Grazie_, ah, _Si-Signora Aurora_!”

Noctis pouted her lips, looking genuinely disappointed, but she showed him to the door. Ignis made sure not to be far behind her. Helianthus looked all around the room as he approached like he was trying to find something.

“It was nice to meet you guys!” Helianthus said.

“If you need any more help, you know where to find us,” Noctis told him, and she kissed the blond on the cheek, causing his face to turn scarlet. “Have dinner with us sometime! Viridi’s cooking is the best.”

“Man, that sounds great!”

Helianthus waved at them, and then he ducked out of their apartment. Noctis closed and locked the door behind him, and then she turned to Ignis with a sigh.

“You hate him,” she said.

“Don’t be silly,” Ignis said. “I merely found him exceptionally annoying.”

Noctis rolled her eyes, and she crossed her arms under her breasts.

“Why? I thought he was really nice, and he’s been surprisingly unflirty, which means it can’t be that.”

“I trust you to deal with flirting. He just seems rather suspicious to me.”

“Suspicious? How?”

“I’ve never heard of the Empire allowing a Lucian into any of their territories. Not even during a ceasefire.”

“That’s true, but _Signora Dioli_ wouldn’t let him stay here unless he had legal documents.”

“Do you know he’s staying here for sure?”

“I helped him talk to _Signora Dioli_.”

Ignis frowned at that. Helianthus had been so fidgety and nervous that he was certain there was something strange about the man. Noctis cut off his thoughts with a sigh. She grabbed his arm, and she leaned up to kiss him on the lips.

“All right, Didi,” she said, and she pulled him toward the kitchen. “I’ll be more careful when I talk to him from now on. Let’s not worry too much about it. We should celebrate you finally getting to start your apprenticeship to _Signor Armaugh_, _sì_?”

That made the heaviness in Ignis’s chest fade, and he smiled. It should have been troubling how easy it was for her to distract him, but taking her suggestion, he pushed it to the recesses of his mind and followed her into the kitchen.

“It is quite exciting.”

“Yeah, so let’s eat delicious food, have a bath, make love.”

Ignis chuckled. He gave her a languid kiss, grateful that she deepened the kiss instead of recoiling from his breath. She pulled away with a chuckle.

“Let’s save that for later,” she gasped. “I’m hungry.”

Ignis laughed, and he turned to take out their food out of the bags while she gathered dishes and utensils.

* * *

-_Another Two Weeks Later_-

Working with Armaugh turned out to be just as exhausting as working at two restaurants, but it was satisfying in ways that no dishwashing or serving job had ever been. He was learning new things and working with high-quality ingredients that he had once thought he would never get to see now that it was clear he and Noctis were stuck in Altissia for life. Domenico was also competitive, which encouraged him to work harder.

The paycheck he received after the first week was also a huge relief, especially when the tips were factored in. It was not the ideal size, but it was better than the pay he had received working two jobs.

“Viridi?” Armaugh said to him in a hushed tone.

“Did you need me for something, _signore_?” Ignis asked without pausing from cleaning up the kitchen.

“I just wanted to ask you to stay behind—not for long. Just a few minutes. I wish to speak with you about something very important.”

Ignis quirked up an eyebrow, but he nodded. 

“I can do that.”

Armaugh gave him a relieved smile, further confusing Ignis.

“Thank you. I think you’ll be very pleased.”

As they finished closing up the restaurant, Ignis played back the day in his head. Nothing stood out to him as particularly good or bad, and nothing had been out of the ordinary.

“You’re not coming?” Domenico asked when Ignis told him goodbye.

“I have to speak with _Signor Armaugh_ in private. I’ll be going home later.”

“I hope it’s not bad news about your girl!”

“No, no, she’s fine. No need to worry.”

“Good, good. Give her a kiss for me!”

“I will not.”

Domenico laughed as he climbed into the gondola. It was something like a ritual for them: Ignis would wish him a good night, and Domenico would tease him about Noctis, threatening playfully to steal her away.

Both Armaugh and Ignis waved at him as he departed. Then Armaugh turned to Ignis, and he motioned toward the bar.

“Sit down, my boy,” the older man said, speaking in full Lucian for the first time in front of Ignis. “I’ll make us a quick drink. A friend will join me in a moment.”

“A friend?” Ignis repeated as he sat down.

Armaugh only smiled at him as he slipped into the kitchen. Ignis fiddled with the menu holder as he waited for the older man to return, lining up the menus perfectly just to give himself something to do. He startled when he heard a gondolier call out, and he turned to look.

A tall man stepped out from the gondola, wearing all black clothing. His hat obscured his face from Ignis. There was something familiar about the way he moved, but Ignis could not quite put a finger on it.

“Ah, there you are!” Armaugh said as he emerged from the kitchen, holding three glasses in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. “Punctual as expected of the Immortal.” 

Ignis whipped his head back to the man, whose face was now clear to him. He was a middle-aged man with short-cropped brown hair and miraculously silverless facial hair only on his chin. The intensity of his icy blue eyes was unmistakably that of the Immortal Cor Leonis, the youngest bodyguard of the Lucian Kings in history.

Ignis’s emotions became a tumultuous storm within himself. Shock became relief, which flitted to worry. Then it was shock again, and the cycle repeated itself until he felt tears streaming down his face unbidden.

The older man frowned. He clapped a hand on Ignis’s shoulder.

“You all right, son?”

“Forgive me, sir. I had given up long ago that I would ever see someone from Lucis again.”

Armaugh handed him one of the cloth napkins, and Ignis took it with shaky hands. He took off his glasses, and he dabbed at his eyes.

“I apologize for ambushing you like this,” Armaugh said, and he handed each of them a glass of wine. “I hope you understand that the Marshal’s presence here requires discretion.”

“Marshal?” Ignis repeated, turning to Cor Leonis with his eyebrows raised.

“The King promoted me quite some time ago,” the older man said, “but let’s get to the main subject. Weskham sent us a message a while ago that he believed he had discovered the whereabouts of an Ignis Scientia, who has been missing for over twelve years.”

Ignis could not help the frown on his face.

“I’m curious what made you so sure,” he asked Armaugh.

“You’re the spitting image of Ventus Scientia,” Armaugh said, looking at him fondly, “and you carry a lot of the same mannerisms. Speak just like him. I also hid away a glass you drank from, and I provided a DNA sample so they could make sure it was the boy who had been missing for twelve years.”

Ignis nodded, recalling a time when he had thought he had misplaced a glass of water but had been too busy to think much about it.

“We confirmed the DNA sample as yours,” Cor continued. “I put together a small rescue team, and we had a scout check out your place. He confirmed that the princess was alive, and he brought back a hair sample. The results just came back to us yesterday.”

“You sent a scout? Do you mean Helianthus?”

Cor Leonis smirked, and he nodded.

“I’m surprised the kid went with that name. He looked like he hated it when I suggested it.”

Ignis almost felt a twinge of guilt for finding him annoying—still annoying because the blond had been flitting around Noctis _every_ single day since they had met.

“How did you two end up in Altissia?” Cor asked.

Ignis took a big sip of wine as he thought about what had happened.

“Our kidnappers brought us all the way to Niflheim before I found an opportunity to slip away with Noctis. They were tired from the journey, and they got sloppy. I killed one while the other was away, and then I grabbed her and ran. I found a boat that was traveling to Tenebrae, which was only just at the beginning of being overtaken, and I slipped onto it. It crashed near Altissia, and I pretended that we were refugees from Tenebrae. No one questioned our story.”

“And you’ve been stuck here without a way to escape or send out a message?” Cor said, nodding.  
“They increased border control security while Noctis recovered in the hospital from her injuries. I’m afraid I missed the window for an escape, and I did not know of anyone I could trust here.”

“You said she was recovering from her injuries?”

“Yes, she suffered some head trauma, which resulted in brain damage and permanent memory loss. She’s mostly fine. She has difficulties with concentration, and she has no memory of her life before waking in Altissia.”

Cor was a man Ignis had feared as a young boy. He had always looked serious and stern, which had been terrifying to him. It was odd seeing the man’s eyes darken with sadness as he took in Ignis’s troubling words.

“She doesn’t remember anything before she arrived here?” he asked.

“Nothing. I’ve tried to trigger memories over the years, but she’s recovered none of her memories.”

“Damn.”

Ignis nodded. He looked at Armaugh, who had a solemn look of his own.

“And unfortunately there’s much information I’ve held back from her for her safety,” Ignis admitted.

“How much does she know?” Cor asked.

“She knows I lied about our origins, but she knows nothing of her true identity or mine.”

Cor nodded.

“I think that’s all I need to know for now. Prompto scoped out your apartment for bugs, so it should be safe to speak with her about this. You probably should before it’s safe for all of us to get out of here. Will you cooperate with us to extract you?”

“Of course, sir. I’ve wanted nothing more than to return to Lucis.”

More unbidden tears warmed Ignis’s eyes, and Cor clapped him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m sorry it took us so long to find you.”

Ignis shook his head, the smile spreading across his face just as unbidden as the tears.

“No, thank you. I’m just glad this will finally be over soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think! Comments, whether praise or criticism, kudos, and subscriptions are all deeply appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've rewritten both the first and second chapter since I posted this, and they go a lot deeper into the story than previously. If you've read those original chapters, I would suggest going back to re-read the first one.
> 
> There is a lot of Noctis not knowing anyone's real names, so it's a little weird and will be for a little while longer.
> 
> I have put some Italian words (probably not correctly) in this chapter that aren't very obvious through context, so here are some translations:
> 
> il mio fidanzato = my fiance  
piacere di conoscerla = pleased to meet you  
il piacere è tutto mio = the pleasure is all mine  
buono sera = good night  
bella signora = beautiful girl
> 
> Let me know if I forgot anything (one more that I put at the end for spoiler reasons)!
> 
> (apologies in advance for any repeated chunks of text, I messed up somewhere while editing, apparently, and I'm looking through it)

**Noctis Lucis Caelum**

-_Twelve Years Ago_-

When Viridi had told the scary doctor their names, Aurora had had a feeling he was lying, but she had one fuzzy memory of a tall man with pale eyes winking at her as he called her that name. She had no recollection of why he was winking, what joke he had been making, but with no other memory of anyone using a different name for her, she had no reason to believe that Viridi was lying.

It was just the brain damage talking, Aurora would remind herself every time she questioned something Viridi told her. She had forgotten all the important details about herself all because a man had struck her in the head while she had been fleeing from Tenebrae with her step-brother, and now she was alone and scared, forced to believe someone who claimed to know her.

The sound of something tapping against glass startled her from her thoughts. Aurora looked around the room, hoping none of the other girls had woken up from the sound. They were all lying down, tucked under thin blankets, and she could hear some of their soft snores. She knew that at least one of them was awake because a girl had already confronted her about her visits from Viridi, and she was glad the girl had chosen not to tell the headmaster of the orphanage—after accepting a small bribe.

Aurora was careful to make as little noise as possible as she slid out of her bed and went up to the window, where she found Viridi’s green eyes peering up at her over the windowsill. She looked over her shoulder at the other girls as she reached up to unlock the window, but there was no way to stop the sound of whatever the mechanism inside the window was as she pushed it open.

After one more look at the other girls, Aurora stood on her toes to lean over the window and look down at Viridi, whose shoulders sagged with relief as he looked up at her. The older boy pressed his fingers to his smiling lips, and then he pointed down the ladder he had used to climb up to her window. She nodded, and she waited for him to climb down the ladder before she hauled herself over the windowsill and climbed down the ladder to join him on the ground. He picked up a basket he had stolen from the boys’ orphanage, and he lifted its lid as he presented her with the pastries he had made in secret for her.

Aurora had no idea how Viridi got any sleep at all when he was always sneaking around to make her treats and bring them to her in the middle of the night.

“It’s good to see you again, Aurora,” Viridi said. “I decided to try something new for you, and you’re welcome to give them away if you don’t like them.”

Aurora reached into the basket, and she took out a fruit tart, which he insisted had been a favorite of hers before her “accident.” The fruit in it differed from the ones he had presented her with last time, and when she bit into it, she found it was sour.

“Is it to your liking?” Viridi asked.

Aurora felt her cheeks heat as she nodded. He watched her as she ate, like he was waiting for something, and she wondered if he had made the treat to trigger a memory. She knew he had done that a few times already, and she frowned at the pastry as she realized she would disappoint him again, chest tightening with her own disappointment.

“Good,” he said, smiling. “The orphanage ordered ‘exotic’ fruits, and I wanted to try them. I’m glad they’re to your liking.”

Viridi looked down at his shoes, and he kicked at a rock half-buried in the ground. His smile faded.

“Aurora, I’m afraid I have a confession to make to you,” he said, “but I need you to promise you’ll keep this a secret between both of us. It could get us both into serious trouble if the wrong person heard this information.”

Aurora paused in finishing her fruit tart, and she pressed her eyebrows together as she watched Viridi. He looked up at her, worry in his eyes.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You can’t tell anyone. It has to be our secret, or we’ll get in trouble. Not just ‘caught in kitchens at the wrong time’ trouble, but serious ‘threat against our lives’ trouble.”

The tightness in her chest worsened. Aurora wanted to walk away with her hands over her ears at that, but she hated to think they would part from each other without Viridi making his confession. It would eat away at her if she never heard it.

“Okay,” she said, “I promise not to tell anyone.”

Viridi nodded, but his shoulder lifted toward his ears as he tensed.

“Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate your trust, even though you don’t remember, and I hope you continue to trust me after what I tell you.”

Viridi looked at his shoes again. He closed his eyes as he drew in a deep breath, and he let it out slowly before he continued:

“We’re not from Tenebrae. We are both from Lucis, and we were kidnapped and taken halfway to Gralea before I escaped with you. When we reached Altissia, I fabricated a story to protect us, and I told them we were step-siblings from Tenebrae. Our relationship was a lie as well. We were merely close friends, but I would like to think you thought of me as something like a brother before your injury.”

Aurora blinked at Viridi as she took in his words. She had thought it was strange that she had understood more Lucian than Tenebraen. The language was spoken more widely than any other country in the world, and it had never occurred to her she could have been from Lucis, a country that every Imperial adult she had come across spoke of with distaste.

“We’re Lucian?” she asked.

“Yes, and the Empire isn’t fond of Lucians. They treat us with extreme hostility, so we must let no one know the truth, lest we bring trouble unto ourselves.”

None of that made the tension in Aurora’s chest ease, but she nodded. Part of her wanted to believe he was merely being paranoid, but she also did not want to test her fate by telling anyone the truth. She might not have remembered her life, but she wanted to go back to it.

“Why were we kidnapped?” Aurora asked.

Viridi reached up and touched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he made every once in a while. When she had asked about it, he had said he used to wear glasses, which had gotten crushed during the attack, and he had also assured her he could see well enough without them, although not as far as he would have liked.

“To hurt your father, I assume,” Viridi said. “He’s a kind man, but not everyone is. They saw you as the only means to hurt him meaningfully, and I was just there. It worked too well. They got us both very far away from home.”

Aurora wished she could remember her father. If he was a kind man, then he deserved to be remembered, but the few memories she had were fuzzy and gave her no feeling that she had ever loved anyone or been loved. She tried not to spend too much time dwelling on such things because trying to remember always gave her a headache.

“How did we know each other if we’re not step-siblings?”

That brought back a smile on Viridi’s face.

“Our parents are very close. We ended up spending a lot of time together, and I came to adore you as my little sister.”

That made her cheeks heat again, and she shoved the rest of her tart into her mouth.

“Well, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest,” Viridi sighed, “I should let you return to bed. I appreciate you giving me your time like this, Aurora.”

Aurora felt like there were a million things she needed to ask him, but they could both get in trouble if someone caught them standing outside the orphanage. She nodded, and she looped the basket over her shoulder as she carried it with her up the ladder, which Viridi held steady for her. When she reached the top, she thought she caught one girl flipping their blanket over their head, but she ignored it. The girl would keep quiet if she gave her the fruit tarts.

Once Aurora was safely inside, she turned to look at Viridi, who smiled and waved at her from the bottom of the ladder. She returned the wave. He made no move to take down the ladder as he watched her. Feeling her cheeks heat, Aurora closed the window, and she scurried back to her bed with the basket of treats.

* * *

-_Present Day_-

“Hey, you going shopping again today?” Helianthus asked with an absurd amount of pep in his step for so early in the morning.

Aurora felt guilty when the heaviness in her chest lightened as Helianthus walked alongside her. Viridi still distrusted him, and _Signora Dioli_ had expressed concern that something was going on between the two of them. Still, he was fun and interesting because he was from somewhere alien to her. He also enjoyed walking around the city, and she was grateful to have a companion with her while shopping.

“Viridi wanted to make something special tonight,” she explained, “so I have to try to find everything.”

“Want some help? I’ve been learning stuff, so I might be more useful than I was last time.”

Helianthus let out a nervous laugh, and Aurora swatted his arm.

“You were excellent company last time, and I like teaching you more Accordan.”

“Do you have a list with you?”

Aurora dug into her bag, and she pulled out a slip of paper that Viridi had written all the needed ingredients onto. His eyebrows pressed together as he read it aloud, and she corrected him when he mispronounced a word.

“You recognize all the words this time,” she celebrated. “You’re doing wonderful.”

“Thanks to you. Otherwise I would be a total disaster.”

“So self-deprecating! You should value yourself more.”

Helianthus’s nervous smile downturned into a sad look, but the expression was gone as soon as she noticed it, morphing into a forced smile. She had noticed him doing that a lot, and she wished she was as good as Viridi at knowing what to say to people.

“Hey, I just remembered,” Helianthus said. “I kind of said I’d hang out with a friend of mine today, and I was thinking about treating you both to lunch, if that’s okay?”

“Oh, a friend?”

“Yeah, he’s another Lucian student, but his Accordan is a lot better than mine.”

“Did you know him before you came here?”

“Uh, sort of? We didn’t really hang out or anything, but I knew of him.”

“So you’ve gotten closer since coming here?”

“Yeah, I guess we have. So, how about it? We won’t be offended if you want to go home.”

Aurora recalled Viridi’s reaction to Helianthus. It would probably upset him that there was another possibly illegal Lucian hanging around her, but she was curious. Helianthus was an interesting person, and she wondered what kind of person this new friend would be.

“I did all the laundry yesterday,” Aurora said, “so I have time to join you.”

Helianthus’s face brightened.

“Sweet! He’s cool, I promise.”

With Altissia being the historic city it was, there were people everywhere, going in all directions at once, and if Aurora had not been living there for as long as she had, she might have found it confusing and overwhelming. She guided Helianthus through the city, letting him lead when they needed to push through a crown. Once they made it to the market, it was easier to walk around without worrying about getting separated.

“What are you thinking about getting for lunch?” Aurora asked as she picked out the best clearance fish they could afford.

“Ah, I don’t know. Nothing too fancy,” Helianthus said, doing a little searching himself. “The big guy’s not very picky.”

“You can buy some cooked food here. Freshly made this morning and cheaper than restaurant food.”

“Hey, that sounds great!”

Helianthus was his usual bundle of high energy as they walked through the market to pick up ingredients, laughing and joking with her about how strange some food names were. They picked out cooked foods for them to take to lunch, buying way more than Noctis was comfortable with him paying for, but he insisted. He carried all of their bags as they left.

“Thank you for getting me a thermal bag,” Aurora said, and she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. “Normally I’m home fast enough that I don’t have to worry about it spoiling.”

“Hey, it’s no big deal. I kind of sprung it on you, anyway.”

“Where are we meeting your friend?”

“You know, this is kind of embarrassing,” Helianthus said, giving her that nervous smile of his, “but I promised to meet my friend at the Leviathan Monument.”

“Oh, how very romantic!”

Helianthus’s face turned beet red, and Aurora chuckled.

“Uh, I like girls.”

“I’m just teasing you.”

“Yeah, ah, but the embarrassing thing is that I don’t remember how to get there. I was hoping you could lead the way.”

“Ah, I can do that.”

Aurora led the way through the city. They passed through a few areas where there were so many people they had to walk arm in arm just to avoid losing each other in the crowd. The Leviathan Monument was a large water fountain with an iron narwhal leaping out of the water. Paper airplanes littered the water, and some were wedged into the iron statue.

“And here we are,” Aurora said, making a sweeping gesture with her arm.

“Oh, this is nice!” Helianthus gasped as he took in the sight. “But it doesn’t look like Leviathan at all?”

“It’s one of Leviathan’s forms, I’ve heard, but a lot of people say it’s a different creature completely: Bismarck, which is a lesser-known god of the ocean.”

“Oooh.”

“If you have paper, you can make a wish here.”

“Hm? With paper?”

“You write a wish on a piece of paper, fold it into a paper bird, and throw it into the sculpture, and if it lands in it, then it’s believed that your wish will come true.”

Aurora took their bags, and then Helianthus dug into his pockets where he found a pen and a folded piece of paper that he used to write his wish. He folded it into a paper bird according to her instructions, and he took his time launching it toward the whale sculpture. It sank straight into the water, and he pouted.

“It looks like the wind isn’t in your favor today,” Aurora said.

“Hey, blondie!”

Helianthus startled at the deep voice, and he and Aurora both turned toward it. There was a rather tall man, broad with muscles, jogging toward him. He had long, dark brown hair with the sides shaved off, and he wore a long-sleeved shirt despite how warm it was. Aurora might not have been familiar with Lucians, but she had never met someone who stood out more within the city.

“Hey, big guy!” Helianthus greeted, and he took the grocery bags from Aurora to present them to the large man. “I brought lunch.”

“And a beautiful girl,” the tall man said, grinning as he looked at Aurora.

Aurora’s face burned hot, and she looked away.

“Yeah, this is Aurora, the, ah, girl I was telling you about.”

“_Piacere di conoscerla_,” the tall man said, and his tone made her cheeks burn even hotter.

Helianthus cast a glare at his friend, planting his hands on his hips, but the taller man was paying little attention to him.

“And Aurora this is Ferrum, the guy who shouldn’t behave this way to an _engaged_ woman.”

“You’re just jealous you haven’t gotten laid while you’ve been here.”

Helianthus rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. I’m hungry. Let’s find a place to eat.”

There were plenty of benches around the monument, so they just picked an empty one to sit down. Helianthus wedged himself in between Aurora and Ferrum, who rolled his eyes at the blond.

“So, Ferrum,” Aurora began as she opened her meal, “do you go to the same school as Heli?”

“Yeah, actually, but I’m going for a history degree with a minor in Accordan.”

“There must be more useful languages to you in Lucis.”

“It’s the language of love, right? Sounds pretty useful to me.”

Helianthus dug his elbow into Ferrum’s side, but it only earned him a smirk from the taller man.

“I just mean there are many languages spoken in Lucis other than Lucian, aren’t there?” Aurora added.

“Yeah, there’s quite a few. I know a little Galahdian. I run into them a lot in the city.”

Aurora recalled hearing about Galahd a few years ago. Niflheim had invaded the Lucian islands. The local peoples, mostly made up of fierce Hunters, had defended their home for several months before the Empire had doubled their efforts and kicked them off the land. There had been reports of the casualties in the invasion, but Noctis had heard rumors throughout her life that the Empire would lie about the numbers to their citizens to make them look more heroic.

“I’ve heard people learn a lot of languages out here,” Ferrum continued. “How many do you know?”

“Not that many, really,” Noctis said in between bites of shrimp scampi. “Accordan, Lucian, Niflheimr, and Tenebraen, but I’m only fluent in Lucian and Accordan.”

“That’s still a lot,” Prompto said. “In Insomnia we learn Lucian in school, and most of us don’t learn anything else.”

“True,” Ferrum agreed, “most people don’t even run into people from outside the city that often. I do because I’m in the military. It’s a lot more diverse than the regular population.”

Aurora raised her eyebrows in surprise at that. Helianthus was quick to change the subject away from their backgrounds and toward the fun things there was to do in both Altissia and Insomnia.

While Ferrum was a big flirt, it turned out he was an interesting person. He spent a lot of time training his body for the military, but he was also a voracious reader and history buff, two things that Aurora had always admired in others but had struggled to be herself. She was still curious about his military background, but Helianthus always changed the subject every time she asked about it.

Both of the men insisted on walking Aurora home, and Ferrum carried her bag, even though it was light enough for her to carry. Once they got to the apartment building, Ferrum grew oddly quiet, stopping in flirting with her and teasing Helianthus to look around the building through narrowed eyes. It was strange, and Helianthus had the same habit every time he walked her back to her apartment.

They reached her apartment, and Aurora turned to them, reaching out for her grocery bag.

“Thank you for lunch and for walking me home,” she said. “It was fun, and I’m glad to have met you, Ferrum.”

The flirty grin came to Ferrum’s face. He took the hand she had extended for her bag in his, and he kissed the back of her hand.

“_Il piacere è tutto mio_,” he said, tone low, and he winked.

Aurora’s cheeks burned, and she jerked her hand out of his grip. She looked around to make sure _Signora Dioli_ had not seen them, and to her relief they were alone in the hallway.

Helianthus glared at Ferrum, who merely smirked at the blond as he handed the grocery bag to Aurora.

They heard footsteps coming down the hall, and they all turned toward the noise. Aurora relaxed when she realized it was Viridi coming down the other side of the hall, and her heart fluttered at the look of adoration on his face upon seeing her. He rushed up to her, and he threw his arms around her, pressing his lips to hers. By the time they parted, she was breathless, and he looked at her with all the love in the world in his eyes.

Ferrum cleared his throat, and they both turned their attention to the two Lucians behind them. Helianthus’s cheeks were pink, and Ferrum’s expression was softer than she had seen it all afternoon.

“Didi, this is Heli’s friend Ferrum,” Aurora introduced, gesturing toward the tall man. “We had lunch together.”

“My treat,” Helianthus added, beaming at them.

“Helianthus,” Viridi said, nodding to the shorter blond and then to the taller man. “Ferrum, a pleasure to meet you.”

It surprised Aurora to see Viridi give Helianthus a genuine smile instead of the usual scornful one, and he seemed just as pleased to meet Ferrum—or rather relieved, judging by the way his shoulder lowered.

“Nice to finally meet both of you,” Ferrum said. “Blondie’s said nothing but nice things about you.”

“It’s been a pleasure having him around,” Viridi said.

Noctis quirked up an eyebrow when she realized he had meant what he had just said.

“All right,” Helianthus cut in. “We’ve got a lot of studying to do so we should probably get going.”

Aurora hugged Helianthus, and she kissed him on the cheek, giggling as his face turned even redder. Ferrum was much too tall for her to kiss on the cheek, and he did not lower himself to allow her. He only patted her back, watching Viridi over her shoulder.

“Enjoy your evening,” Ferrum said in a perfectly polite tone.

“Catch you later!” Helianthus said, waving as he tugged Ferrum down the hallway.

Aurora waved at them as they walked down the hall. Viridi pressed her close to him, burying his face in her neck, and she giggled as his breath tickled her.

“Didi, why are you being so cuddly suddenly?”

“I’m just happy to see you.”

“Did something good happen at work?”

Viridi pulled away, and he nodded.

“Yes, although it’s not related to work. Let’s go inside, and I’ll tell you about it.”

Viridi pressed a kiss to her forehead. He took the bag of groceries from her, and he led the way inside their apartment. She followed him into the kitchen. After setting the bag onto the counter, he filled up the electric water kettle.

“Would you like some tea, darling?” he asked.

“Since you’re already making some, sure.”

Viridi nodded. He stood there for a while, tapping his fingers on the counter as he waited for the water to boil. Aurora sat at the table, frowning as she waited for him to speak, and she felt her chest tighten with each passing minute.

It was as he carried two hot cups of tea to the table that he finally spoke:

“Darling, I saw an old friend today, someone we knew when we lived in Lucis.”

“An old friend from Lucis?”

“Well, he worked for your father, but they were quite close. It’s a similar friendship we would have had if we had remained in Lucis, and he was like an uncle to you. Your father trusted him. I trust him.

“It turns out he was an old friend of _Signor Armaugh’s_,” Viridi continued, “and both of them were old friends of our parents. _Signor Armaugh_ called him when he recognized me, and he sneaked through the borders to confirm for himself that it was me. He plans on helping us get back to Lucis.”

Tension rolled through Aurora’s body at that, and she pressed her hand to her belly, attempting to soothe them just as much as herself. Viridi’s face remained soft as he reached for her hand and squeezed it between his own, but it did little to fight back the worry swirling through her.

“I know that sounds frightening,” he added, “but they have been here for a month without being detected. We should be safe as long as we listen to them.”

Viridi brought her hand to his lips, and he kissed her palm. He smiled as tears slipped down his cheeks. Aurora tried to think of the last time she had seen him cry, but she could not think of a single instance.

“Forgive me,” he said. “I had long given up that we would ever be rescued from here, and I am still feeling rather overwhelmed.”

It had never even occurred to Aurora that help would ever come. She had thought her life would be in Altissia until she passed, and even if living under the thumb of the Empire was far from an ideal life, she and Viridi had built a life together in the city.

“There are unfortunately a lot of things I have neglected to tell you,” Viridi said, and his cheerful face fell to worry. “About you and your father. About myself.”

Aurora’s eyebrows lifted toward her hairline.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“This ‘friend’ of our parents is someone rather high profile, someone who put himself in significant danger coming here to rescue you. He works for your father, as I said. When we were children, he was his bodyguard, but now he’s the Marshal of the Crownsguard.”

Aurora’s heart clenched. Everyone in the Empire had heard of the Marshal of the Crownsguard. He was considered a great enemy of Niflheim, and if the wrong people overheard that Viridi had spoken to him, he could be arrested and _tortured_.

“Please tell me that’s not true, Viridi,” Aurora said, and tears heated her eyes.

Viridi’s eyebrows pressed together, and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“I have all the faith in Eos that they are being cautious, and they will extract us from here with no trouble. They’ve been here for a month already, and the Empire hasn’t sent anyone after them.”

“What if they know? What if they’re just waiting for the right moment?”

“The Empire prefers to make themselves look like our saviors. They’ve been going on and on about the evils of the Marshal for so long, I have no doubts they would make a big show of it for the cameras.”

“They haven’t taken over an entire continent by being stupid.”

Viridi downcast his eyes, and he nodded. A smile ghosted his lips.

“That’s mostly true, but they’ve been unknowingly harboring their greatest enemy right here in Altissia.”

Aurora frowned at him.

“I mean you,” Viridi explained. “The Marshal is here to rescue you, the daughter of his King. You are the princess of Lucis, its only heir.”

Through widened eyes, Aurora watched her fiancè, whose skin turned pale as he watched her himself. His eyes darted away as he gave her hand another gentle squeeze.

“I’m sorry I never told you sooner,” he said.

“That’s absurd,” Aurora muttered. “It’s not a funny joke.”

“I wish I had proof to give you, but I lost it all in the accident twelve years ago. We arrived in Altissia with only our bodies and our clothes, nothing else.”

“The princess—The princess was declared dead. It was all over the news.”

“The Empire was merely saving face when they boasted about that lie. They put so many resources into capturing you, but I thwarted their plans. You were missing but not gone, and they could not admit they lost track of an unconscious eight-year-old girl so easily.”

Aurora chewed on her bottom lip. She pressed her hand to her stomach, a gesture that normally calmed her, but now there was no easing away the tension in her body. That hollow feeling of being left behind was creeping into her, as it had as children when Viridi would tell stories about their families and friends back in Lucis.

That feeling had never crept into her when he had told her about Lucian royalty and how they had achieved their greatness through the divine power of the six Gods, dispelling the myths Niflheim told to make their citizens afraid of both the Gods and their chosen protectors of the planet.

“I can’t wield magic,” she said to get him to see reason. “The Lucian kings and queens power their Wall with magic, but I’ve never used it.”

“You used magic before the accident. In the past royalty lost the connection to their magic after a terrible injury, and I assume that’s why you’ve never heard the Gods’ call. Being so far away from the Crystal likely isn’t helping you. I suspect you’ll feel a shift in yourself the closer we get to Lucis.”

Aurora could only shake her head at that, and she suddenly felt cold. She wrapped her hands around her cup of tea, but it had lost much of its warmth. He placed his hands over hers, and she fought the urge to pull them away.

“The Marshal informed me yesterday,” Viridi continued, “he aims to depart from Altissia tomorrow, but if you’re feeling unwell, he can postpone the journey for another couple of days. He would prefer to leave by the end of the week. He says it will lessen our chances of getting caught.”

Hot annoyance ran up Aurora’s spine, and she jerked her hands back. Hot tears slipped down her cheek, and she shook her head.

“I think I need a moment,” she said.

“I understand.”

Aurora shook her head again, and she stood from her chair. She glanced at Viridi, finding a look of pity on his face, and she turned to go to their bedroom, tears welling out of her eyes. Once she was alone, she sat on the bed, caressing her stomach to comfort herself, and she swiped at her cheeks in vain as she cried.

Part of Aurora worried that her fiancé had lost his mind. Being a lost princess was in so many fairy tales it was ridiculous to even consider that she was a long-lost princess herself. On top of that, Viridi spoke of leaving with one of the Empire’s most hated men, and if he was really there, then they were in danger—serious danger.

Another part of Aurora recalled the way she had thought Viridi had been lying when he had told that doctor her name. She had told herself it was the paranoia of waking up with none of her memories

Aurora laid on her side on the bed, careful not to put any weight on her swollen stomach, and she buried her face in her pillow to cry.

* * *

-_A Short Nap Later_-

“Darling?”

Aurora felt warm fingers brush against her cheek, but it was the smell of food that motivated her to open her eyes. She peered up through her dark fringe at Viridi standing over her, and he gave her a slight smile.

“Forgive me,” he said. “I wanted to check on you. Dinner is done if you’re hungry.”

Aurora pushed herself upright, and she rubbed her swollen eyes. It took her a moment to remember why her eyes felt swollen. She had been crying, and before then, Viridi had told her a lot of things, none she had been enthusiastic to hear.

Viridi crouched next to the bed, and he grasped her hand.

“Darling, first I owe you an apology,” he said. “Long ago, I had given up on us getting rescued, and I allowed that fear to cloud my judgment. I should have told you of your real past, but I arrogantly thought I could spare you some heartache by letting us live as Aurora and Viridi instead of the lost princess and her retainer. It would have made tonight’s news easier to swallow, and beyond that, you deserved to know.

“I am so sorry for my negligence,” he continued, “and especially for my arrogance, for my belief that I knew what was best for you. I’m so, so sorry.”

It was not the apology that surprised Aurora. He had always been quick to put any blame on himself, even when she was the one in the wrong in an argument, but seeing tears in his eyes for the second time that night—in the entire time she had known him—was startling.

Aurora reached out a hand to wipe them away. She felt a kick in her stomach, and she cupped her hand around it, warmth spreading in her chest.

“I love you, Didi,” she said.

Viridi’s shoulders lowered from his ears with relief.

“But we have a lot to talk about,” Aurora continued.

“Over dinner?”

“Yeah, I could never turn down your cooking.”

Viridi stood, and he held out his hands. He helped her stand, and she followed him into the kitchen. She sat at the table while Viridi carried their food and tea to the table.

Aurora tried the baked grouper, and she groaned, eyes fluttering.

“Your cooking gets better every day, I swear.”

“Thank you, darling. What should we talk about first?”

“Maybe how Cor Leonis found you? Us?”

“Ah, yes, as I mentioned, _Signor Armaugh_ is a friend of his and your father’s. He thought I looked like my uncle, who raised me in the Citadel, and he took a DNA sample and sent it to Insomnia.”

“He took a DNA sample from you?”

“I suspect he took a saliva sample from a cup I was drinking, but I never asked how he went about collecting it. It couldn’t have been anything intrusive without me knowing.”

“Still a little...strange?”

“It’s the only way for them to know for sure it’s me, and now they have proper paperwork for me—and for you. They sent a Crownsguard to Altissia to scout ahead and help make sure I would be safe for the trip back, and the scout came across you. He took a DNA sample from you, and as soon as they confirmed your identity, they sent the Marshal himself and your Shield.”

Aurora had learned from Viridi a long time ago that the royalty of Lucis had a line of specially bred bodyguards known as Shields. They had a connection to the Gods themselves, but it was not as intense as the connection royalty had. She recalled how much Ferrum had stood out to her earlier.

“Is Ferrum my Shield?” she asked.

“Indeed. I recognized him the moment I saw him. He looks like his father. His real name is Gladiolus Amicitia. Although he used to insist everyone called him Gladio.”

“You used to know each other?”

“We’ve met. He and I would have been expected to work together.”

“And is Helianthus the scout?”

“It’s funny how I was right about him being here illegally, isn’t it? The Marshal said his real name is Prompto. Apparently he doesn’t like his fake name, but he’s gone along with it, anyway.”

Aurora nodded. She felt the twinge of betrayal at learning her new friend had been someone watching over her. So much about him had seemed genuine, but now she had to wonder if he was being so friendly to stay close to her, not that she could blame him for doing his job.

“Now that we’re discussing fake names,” Viridi sighed, looking down at his plate of food, “I’ve also been using a fake name these last twelve years. I am Ignis Scientia.”

There was a twinge of pain in her chest, but she forced herself to nod. It made sense that he would have also used a fake name if he had given her a fake name, but still discovering something about someone she thought she knew everything about was painful.

“I know it would be strange to call me by a new name after all these years,” Viridi—or rather Ignis—said, “so I don’t expect you to suddenly start calling me by it. Still, for your safety, it might be for the best if you continued to call me Viridi while we remain in Altissia.”

Aurora only nodded again, uncertain what to say, how to interpret the tension rolling through her again. She took a sip of her tea, but the taste was dull.

“We should also discuss your name,” Ignis said, hesitance lowering his tone. “There are a few of us who would have no issue calling you whichever name you prefer, but most will insist on calling you Noctis or Your Highness. It will be strange for you, and unfortunately you won’t have much control over your identity.”

Aurora’s eyebrows pressed together at that, and she tilted her head.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, if our situations were reversed, they would call me by the name I was most comfortable with, and I could change it legally to whatever I like. You, however, will have many expectations thrust upon you. They will go easy on you at first, but the Council can still be ruthless.”

“The Council?”

“Yes, they help govern the kingdom. Although the King has the most power, they have some sway in lawmaking. It’ll be some time before you have to listen to them, but they’ll do their best to manipulate you, to groom you into the monarch they want you to be.”

That tension in her body was feeling more and more like fear as the conversation went on.

“You said the Marshal wants us to leave tomorrow?” Aurora asked.

“If you’re feeling up to it, yes. I made him aware of your pregnancy, and he doesn’t want to put any undue stress on you. Although I imagine you are feeling an incredible amount of stress right now. Is there a question I could answer for you to help ease your fears?”

Aurora cupped a hand around her stomach. Her mind was a whirlwind of questions, some she was afraid to ask him.

Like _Does she have the choice to stay?_

* * *

-_The Next Day_-

They had agreed to meet at Maagho’s after Ignis’s last day of work. Aurora wished they had left in the winter when she could cover herself in many comforting layers of clothing, but it had to be the middle of summer. She had to leave feeling exposed in a thin summer dress.

Walking through the city alone worsened the feeling. Aurora had never enjoyed walking through the city alone. There were too many people, and carrying a heavy suitcase, which she should not have been carrying while pregnant, made the journey to Maagho’s even more worrisome as she pushed through crowds of people.

Once she made it to the gondola, Aurora could sit down, and she took a deep breath, cradling her stomach in her hands. She felt a kick against her hand, and the bitter loneliness in her chest ebbed away, warmth replacing it.

The ride to Maagho’s was a long one. They picked up a few other riders along the way. For the most part they ignored each other, but there was one older woman who begged to rub Aurora’s pregnant belly. 

When they finally made it to Maagho’s, Aurora marveled at how much money the city had put into the area. Everything was old, older than the poorer parts of the city, but it was clean and well-maintained, except for some areas that received more traffic than others. It was charming in all the ways she had seen Altissia look on TV but never in real life. The restaurant was hidden beneath a section of the city, but it had been designed to fit in with the old architecture.

There were three men in black standing outside the restaurant. She recognized Gladiolus and Prompto, but the third was a taller man wearing a hat that obscured his face. He must have been Cor Leonis. Her eyes shifted to the gondolier, but he continued his way to the restaurant as if everything was normal.

“Hey, Rory!” Prompto called as he rushed to the gondola stop, waving at her.

Aurora waved back, but she could not quite match his enthusiasm. He helped her out of the gondola, and he took her heavy suitcase. Nothing about his expressions or mannerisms differed from what she was used to from him, but she could not help the feeling that something was different with him, anyway.

Aurora followed Prompto to the man with the hat. When his ice-blue eyes peered at her from the underside of his hat, she gasped, eyes widening. He was the man she remembered from her childhood—from Noctis’s childhood.

Prompto frowned at Aurora, but the Marshal nodded at her without giving away any emotions.

“Miss Diemque,” Cor Leonis said, “I hope you’re doing well.”

“I am, _signore_,” she gasped. “_Grazie_.”

Cor Leonis examined her through his cold eyes. They lingered on her swollen stomach, and she fought the urge to cover it with her hands, uncertain what he thought of it. He nodded, and he headed toward the entrance of the restaurant. 

Gladio intercepted her before she could follow him.

“_Buona sera, bella signora_,” he said, winking.

Aurora’s face burned. Prompto elbowed the taller man in the side, and Gladio chuckled, a pleasant rumbling in his chest.

“Sorry,” he said. “Just getting it out of the way before I have to be formal in front of my boss.”

They entered the restaurant. The inside was again like something from a movie, like something she had never thought she would be allowed inside even as an employee. Ignis was inside the restaurant, standing near the bar, and he looked up from buttoning his dress shirt.

Aurora’s chest tightened at the sadness in his eyes. That look had been there since their talk over dinner, and he had not once initiated any physical contact with her. He was standing back again, and it reminded her of how Ignis had acted before and even a few weeks after she had convinced him to enter a relationship with each other.

It made sense, really. Her Viridi might have a new name to her, but his habits of keeping a distance when he was uncertain how to handle something was what he had always done. Even when he had visited her at the orphanage, he would always keep a careful distance from her when she was upset until she made it clear that she needed their closeness, their friendship, their love.

Noctis needed time to get used to everything she had learned, but in Altissia all they had ever had were each other. She hated to consider a future without him.

“_Buona sera, il mio fidanzato,_” she said as she went to him, and she looped her arms behind his neck as she leaned up to kiss him.

Ignis did not pull away or stiffen, as she had feared he would. He wrapped his arms around her, and that sadness in his eyes shifted to the one of love she was used to from him. 

Someone else interrupted the moment:

“Ah, it’s a pleasure to finally see you, _Vostra Altezza_.”

Aurora turned to the unfamiliar voice, startled more by her new title than his sudden appearance next to her. It was _Signor Armaugh_. His dark eyes soft as he took her in much the same way Cor Leonis had before, but with more mirth.

“Good to meet you, _signore_,” Aurora said.

“You look just like your father,” the older man said, “except for the eyes.”

“And much cuter,” Gladio butted in as he sat at the bar.

Armaugh ignored him. He motioned toward the bar.

“Let’s all sit down and have one last meal before you depart for Lucis,” he said. “The Marshal’s treat.”

Cor Leonis snorted.

“You haven’t changed a bit, Wesk,” he said, and he patted the older gentleman on the shoulder as he passed him, joining Gladio.

Prompto sat next to Gladio at the bar, putting himself in between the princess and the flirty man. After a peck to Ignis’s lips, she boosted herself onto a barstool.

Armaugh placed a plate of food in front of her. It was slices of white fish surrounding a pile of vegetables. Several commercials had shown off the same dish on TV, and she had never thought she would ever get to try it in real life. She picked up a slice of fish with her fork, and she tasted it.

Aurora really hoped they would get to eat Altissian food when they made it to Insomnia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That one more translation I told you about: vostra altezza = your highness
> 
> Whew! It's been a while. 
> 
> I wish I could say I'm happy about this chapter after working on it for so long, but I'm not. The conversation between Ignis and Noctis was super difficult for me, and I still hate it. I didn't want to look at it for too much longer, so I just posted it.
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think! Comments, whether criticism or praise, and kudos are much appreciated!
> 
> I'm an unfocused mess all of the time, so I apologize for how long this is probably going to take me to complete. I am also completely reworking the outline. Going through FF7R on hard difficulty is also taking me longer than I expected. That means I'm still going to be taking forever to write absolutely anything.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me way too long to figure out the pacing of this chapter. It’s also been too long since I’ve looked at the outline, and I still haven’t finished it. My goal is 20 chapters for this, but I’m not entirely sure yet.
> 
> I’m still pretty worried about getting Noctis’s reactions to everything right. She’s definitely not happy about any of this, and none of the older folks are as understanding as they should be.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, anyway!

**Noctis Lucis Caelum**

-_Nine Years Ago_-

“Rory, what on Eos happened?” Ignis gasped as he brought her hand to his face.

There were cuts on Aurora’s knuckles that she had hidden with gloves until a scab had split open, causing blood to soak into them. She snatched her hand away from him, and she reached for the glove to cover it back up.

“Nothing,” she insisted.

“It most certainly is not. Who did this to you?”

“Didi, no one did this to me.”

Viridi watched her while pressing his lips into a thin line, and his eyes were serious, seeing right through her. She wished he would just leave things alone. It would make things so much easier.

“While I admire your attempts to be strong, Rory,” Viridi said, “I believe you’re breaking our promise to each other.”

Aurora rolled her eyes. She drew up her legs to her chest, and she rested her chin on her knees.

“I didn’t make any promises,” she mumbled.

“We promised to take care of each other, and I can’t help you if you keep things like this from me. Who did this to you?”

Aurora glared at a spot on the ground.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Viridi sighed, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught him pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Then I am forced to make speculations,” he said. “It couldn’t be from striking another girl. This looks far worse than that. The only other option I see is a punishment. Has the headmistress been cruel to you again?”

Aurora sighed. The headmistress was a true Imperial patriot, taking out her superiority complex on those who had been born outside the Niflheim Empire. She had a general dislike for all the children, but she punished the Tenebraen children first if she could not pinpoint the exact rule-breaker.

“I want to go back to the old place,” Aurora muttered, and she felt her eyes warm and throat tighten.

“I hope it wasn’t my visits in the middle of the night,” Viridi said.

The other girls had caught Aurora sneaking out a few times, but it was as easy to bribe them with Viridi’s food as it had been at the first orphanage. There was one girl who was a stickler for the rules, but she slept in a different wing of the building.

“No,” she said, “it was just a Niff tattling on me again.”

“Rory, you shouldn’t speak like that.”

Aurora only huffed, tired of having that argument with him. “Niff” was a derisive word, Viridi had told her a million times. The Imperial kids had no problems throwing slurs at her and the Tenebraens, which they believed she was one of, and she saw no reason to be nicer to them. She tried not to think what it would be like if any of them knew where she was really from.

“You would tell me if you got in trouble because of me, wouldn’t you?” Viridi asked, ending that part of the argument.

“I think they would put me somewhere else,” Aurora said, “so I couldn’t sneak out anymore. It’s what they did when one of the other girls when she got caught with her boyfriend.”

“I see.”

They fell into silence. Normally, silence was comfortable between them, a moment where Aurora could just enjoy being in the presence of someone familiar to her, but this time her mind was swirling with a thousand thoughts, some pleasant and some she would rather not have an answer to. Her heart sped faster in her chest as she wondered what to do about them.

Aurora looked at Viridi, who gazed up at the starry sky, a grim look on his face.

“Didi?”

“Hm?”

“I—”

Aurora pressed her lips together as she wondered if it was a good idea to ask him one thing that had been on her mind, the memory of a spied kiss coming to mind.

“What is it?” Viridi asked.

Aurora shook her head. Whatever answer he gave to her question would alter their relationship in a way she did not want it to.

“Just thank you. For sticking around.”

Aurora could do that for him, at least, thank him for being the one pleasant constant in her life. She glanced at Viridi, who smiled at her.

“Always.”

* * *

-_The Present_-

Aurora rested her hand over her belly, the sharp kicks of her little one easing the tension in her chest. She walked with the group of men to the dock. There were guards standing in booths at the docks and others holding weapons as they blocked the paths of anyone trying to get in or out of the city. Most of them gave little reaction to those passing them by. Not a single one of them looked in her direction, but she could not shake the feeling they would turn around and realize she had been an enemy living among them all these years.

Ignis stood at Aurora’s side, holding her hand only because she had taken it. She had thought his acceptance of her affection at Maagho’s was a good sign, but he was still keeping a distance from her, falling back to his most annoying habit.

Gladio was a few paces ahead of them, holding Aurora’s heavy bag, and a few local people rushed out of his way despite him making no efforts to intimidate anyone into doing so. Cor walked behind them, hiding his face beneath his hat the best he could. Prompto hung back just behind Cor, monitoring everyone and their surroundings.

Weskham approached the guards blocking their dock. He had gotten into contact with Camelia Claustra, the first secretary and leading lady of Accordo, and she had pulled a few guards from the dock to make it easier to bypass them. Aurora could not hear what he said to get their attention on him, but they followed him down the dock, turning their back to Aurora and the men.

The five of them picked up their pace, though not so fast that Aurora could not keep up with them. They startled a few people as they ran past them, but no one stopped them.

The _Royal Vessel_ was a small yacht, painted black and white to represent Lucis. It was not one designed for subterfuge, but few people in Eos knew of its existence, making it their best option to use on short notice. Cor had ridden it in his youth, but the boat looked brand new, like this was its first voyage.

Gladio hopped onto the boat first, and he reached out a hand to help her onto it, practically lifting her onto it like a small child onto a ride. Once her feet were flat on the boat, the smell of tobacco struck her nose, making her gag, and she covered her nose as she looked around. An old man sat behind the command console, stamping out a cigar into an ashtray. He wore a red leather jacket and a matching hat, and as he turned in his chair, she could see “Hammerhead Service Station” on his hat and jacket. His hair was pure white, and his wrinkles gave him a permanent frown, like he found everything distasteful.

“Cid, we have to go,” Cor said as he took long steps toward the old man.

“I didn’ forget,” the old man said in a gravelly voice and with a thick accent Aurora had never heard before. “Git yer asses hidin’.”

Cor kneeled down, and he pulled up a section of the floor that had previously looked like a seamless part of it. He looked up at Aurora, and he motioned toward the hole. It was dark beyond the square of light on the floor, and it was difficult to tell how deep it went.

“We have to hide in here,” he said. “Ignis first, and I’ll go in last.”

Ignis slipped past her, and he lowered himself into the hole. He crawled on all fours into the darkness. Aurora bit her bottom lip.

“We don’t have much time,” Cor reminded her.

Aurora sat on the floor, and she slipped into the small space. She crawled on all fours until she brushed against Ignis, and she tucked herself into his side. He braced one arm on the other side of her to prevent himself from crushing her during their journey. Sweat dampened not only her shirt but his, and she sighed when she realized it was only going to get hotter in the cramped space. For once, she would have preferred distance between them.

Cor hopped into the hole. He was a large man, and he took up almost as much space as Aurora and Ignis combined. Gladio might not have been able to fit into it at all.

“Be careful, sir,” Gladio said. “Don’t squish the princess.”

“Shut up and close the door,” the older man huffed.

Gladio chuckled. He closed off the hole, and then, they were in total darkness.

“Sorry about this place,” Cor said. “We added it right after we heard about you two. It’s not an ideal space to hide from the Empire, but it’s the best we could do on short notice.”

“Will we be here the whole ride?” Ignis asked, and Aurora felt the rumble of his voice against her side.

“No, just until we can get into Lucian waters. You’re not feeling sick, are you?”

“I’m all right, sir. I acquired my sea legs a long time ago.”

“And you, Your Highness?”

Aurora felt blood drain from her face at that title again. No matter how many times these men said it, she thought she would never get used to it.

“I’ve been on a few fishing boats,” she said.

“Remember to stay quiet in here. We can’t have anyone suspect we’re here. And please tell me you won’t vomit. I don’t want to be in here with vomit for the next couple hours.”

The engine roared to life, startling Aurora. Her wild child fluttered and kicked, and she cradled her stomach with both hands. It quieted to a low rumble a moment later, and she heard the murmuring of voices. Gladio’s was muffled but distinct, and there was an unfamiliar second one. They spoke of leaving Altissia for Tenebrae, but the guards would have to inspect the ship first.

It was not until she heard footsteps nearing them that Aurora tensed, her heart picking up its pace in her chest. Ignis pressed another kiss to her head. If they were not so sweaty, she would have buried her face into his shoulder.

“This is a damn nice boat,” an unfamiliar man said in Niflheimr.

“Expensive as hell,” another man added. “There’s no way these people are from Tenebrae of all places. The Empire took everything they didn’t destroy.”

Ignis tensed beside her just as she jumped.

“I don’t know,” the second man continued. “We’re getting paid to make a show of checking the place out and let them go as quickly as possible.”

The men returned to Accordan after declaring to each other they saw nothing suspicious, and their footsteps grew distant. All three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

-_An Hour Later_-

Sweat soaked through Aurora’s clothes, and the room was feeling smaller and smaller with each passing second. To make matters worse, they smelled. The occasional kick from her unborn child was the only thing distracting her and keeping her from throttling her fiance as they sweltered.

A sharp knock on the door above them startled Aurora.

“Cover your eyes,” Cor warned.

Ignis’s hand slipped over Aurora’s face. She heard the door open, and bright light slipped between Ignis’s fingers and seared into her eyes, forcing her to squeeze them shut.

“We’re safe,” Gladio said. “You can come out now.”

“Thank Bahamut’s scaly hide,” Cor muttered. “If I had to spend another minute in here, I would have lost my mind.”

Aurora heard some shuffling, and she assumed it was Cor climbing out of the hole.

“If Regis asks me on a mission like this again,” he grumbled, “I will personally flay him alive.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, sir,” Gladio said, chuckling.

“He’ll hear it from me in person.”

Ignis uncovered Aurora’s eyes. She blinked as she allowed them a moment to adjust to the light. 

“How are you feeling?” Ignis asked.

“Hot. Sweaty.”

“Of course. After you.”

Aurora’s back cooled as she crawled forward, and she climbed out of the hole, Gladio offering a helpful hand at the top. He guided her to a bench to rest. Prompto handed her a bottle of water, and cold condensation flicked onto her skin. She drank from it, feeling relief as it slid down her throat.

“Thank you, Prompto,” Aurora said once she had drunk half the water.

“No biggy,” he said, and he shrugged. “I heard it’s rough in there, and it’s probably worse with three people.”

“Might we have a chance to change our clothes?” Ignis asked as he joined Aurora on the bench. “We’re positively soaked through.”

“Not much privacy on the boat,” Gladio said. “Unless you want to crawl back into that hole.”

“No, thank you,” Aurora grumbled.

“You only have another couple of hours before we reach shore, and then you can take a good, long shower.”

Gladio made sure they had plenty of food and water before he went off to speak with the two oldest men on the boat. Prompto remained hovering around Aurora and Ignis. Aurora enjoyed the cool breeze of the rushing boat.

When Prompto cleared his throat, Aurora turned her gaze to him.

“Hey, uh,” he began, “I have an SD card with pictures from Insomnia. I was thinking I could show you some pictures of your dad, if you want to look at them.”

Aurora blinked at Prompto, eyebrows lifting to her hairline. Ignis had mentioned her father several times throughout the years, and for the first time, she realized she had seen his face before—or rather, a devilish caricature of him in Imperial propaganda. She wondered how many similarities there were between the real King of Lucis and the Empire’s version of him.

“Yes, I’d like to see them,” she said.

Prompto nodded his head, a hesitant smile spreading on his face, and he plopped himself next to Aurora on the bench. He held out his hand, and with an explosion of blue sparks and the sound of tinkling glass, a camera appeared in his hand. Aurora jumped, gasping, and her heart raced in her chest. The smell of ozone struck her nose.

“Ah, sorry!” Prompto cried. “I forgot you’re not used to that! I’m so sorry!”

“What on Eos was that?” Aurora gasped.

“Lucian magic,” Ignis explained. “A gift bestowed upon the Lucis Caelum lines and those they share it with. It allows you to hide items in the Armiger. Prompto would have access to it through your father.”

“Yeah, the Armiger is kind of like an unlimited inventory,” Prompto added. “Like in a video game! Ah, well, except I’m not supposed to just put whatever I want in there. It’s a waste of magic or something, so maybe don’t tell anyone about it?”

“Can I do that?” Aurora asked, staring at the camera in Prompto’s hands.

“Not since your injury,” Ignis cut in, “but I’m sure a few weeks in training would help you gain access to it.”

Aurora pouted at “a few weeks,” but it was a thing to look forward to, she supposed. She bit into her protein bar to hide any trace of disappointment on her face, and she watched as Prompto pressed the buttons on the backside of his camera.

“Ah, here he is!” Prompto said, grinning.

He turned the back of his camera to Aurora. There was a bearded man in black and gold clothing standing in a colorful garden, and he leaned on a cane that matched his clothes. His hair was steel gray, and there was a brace on his left knee, the same knee she favored when she was especially tired, she realized. It was a candid shot, the older man looking away from the camera, and he looked like he needed a thousand year nap—or like he had just taken one.

“You can look through them,” Prompto said. “I took four or five in a row. You can see him better in other ones.”

Aurora took the camera, and she pressed the little arrow to get to the next picture. He was still in the garden, but the image was closer, giving her a better look at his face. To her own surprise, there was a similarity in the shape of her face and her nose, but their eyes were different. His were green and serious, and hers were sapphire blue, brighter, and larger.

Aurora flipped to the next picture. The man now sat in a room that was either dark or painted black—it was difficult to tell. Another man sat next to him. His hair was white with streaks of gray, and he looked huge underneath his many layers of ornate clothes.

“That’s Gladio’s dad,” Prompto explained, “and your dad’s Shield.”

Aurora’s eyebrow raised as she compared the older man’s face to Gladio’s. She felt Ignis leaning over her to look for himself, and she angled the camera to help him see better.

“They look similar,” Aurora observed.

“The hell I do,” Gladio said from behind Aurora, startling her. “I’m clearly better looking.”

“And just as humble as your father, I see,” Ignis added.

Gladio flashed him a grin as he sat on the bench behind them.

“He’s actually a lot different from who he was twelve years ago,” he said. “He’s a lot more serious, a bit overprotective.”

“Of Iris?”

Gladio’s thick eyebrows flew up to his hairline, and he leaned forward in his seat.

“You remember my little sister?” he asked.

“You were quite the proud big brother back then.”

Noctis tuned them out as they spoke of things she had long forgotten about, taking another bite of her protein bar to hide the incoming pout.

“I have a lot of pictures of the Citadel,” Prompto said, distracting her from her thoughts, “and some people who work there. You can look at those, too, if you want.”

The protein bar felt too thick as she swallowed it.

“I don’t want to hog your camera,” she said. “I barely even know how to use the thing.”

“No, I’ve been wanting to show you these pictures for a while, and I could teach you to use it. It’s pretty easy. It was my first camera, and I didn’t know what I was doing back then either.”

“Really? This is your first camera?”

“Yeah, my folks got it for me when I was twelve. I carried it with me everywhere and took pictures of everything. Well, I still do that.”

“That’s nice.”

“Do you want to look at some more pictures with me?”

Aurora glanced at her fiance, who turned in his seat as he spoke to Gladio. They were talking about their time as children together, a topic she could not take any part in. She took a deep breath as she felt tension in her chest, and she forced a smile.

“Yeah, I’d like to see more.”

* * *

-_Three Hours Later_-

The setting sun was an orange streak across the black Lucian waters. Aurora had spent most of the last hour staring at the crystal blue ocean as they sped along it, and it had been like what she saw at home until dusk had arrived, showing her a beautiful starry sky with so many more stars.

“You look like Reggie,” Cid said, “‘specially when you pout like that.”

Aurora frowned at the old man behind the console of the boat. She had tried standing around the edge like Prompto and everyone else, but they had all panicked. They said she would fall over the edge, and they made her watch the ocean from the pilot’s room instead, forcing her to endure Cid’s grouchy commentary as he longed for his next cigar.

“I’m not pouting,” she argued, and she sucked in her bottom lip just in case.

“It ain’t like I don’t get it. A whole lotta changes happened all at once, and no one will even let ya walk ‘round the boat where ya want. I wouldn’t be happy either.”

Aurora only sighed.

“But that pout,” Cid continued. “That’s how Reggie always looked when he wasn’t happy. I’m sure ya’ll see it when ya get to the city. He’s grown up a lot, but I’m sure seein’ his baby girl will turn him inta a blubberin’ mess. Ya got yer mama’s eyes, too. That’ll really get ‘im goin’.”

That was the first time anyone had mentioned her mother to her, and it was no mystery why. Even in Altissia, everyone knew that Queen Aulea had died, but it had never come to her mind until the old man had mentioned her.

Just as she opened her mouth to ask him about her mother, Gladio’s booming voice startled her:

“Land ahead!”

Aurora snapped her attention to the large man, who held binoculars to his face. She glanced at Ignis, who had slumped over on the bench while he slept. He groaned, and he rubbed his tired green eyes with one hand and his neck with the other.

Aurora looked through the front windows of the boat, but it was difficult to see much of anything. Cid sped up the boat, and everyone went quiet as they watched the darkening horizon. A white light came into view, and it brought to her attention a dark mass beneath it. As they drew closer, she realized it was a tall cliff, and there was a lighthouse sitting on top of it, guiding Cid closer to it.

Cor had informed her they were going to Cape Caem, a royal vacation house that few people in the world were privy to. Prompto had never been there, having left Lucis from a different port, but Gladio had been there to board the _Royal Vessel_. Cid and Cor had been there not only for their recent mission but for a mission thirty years ago alongside Clarus, Regis, and Weskham. 

The spinning light from the lighthouse grew brighter as the sun disappeared, and Aurora marveled at the height of the cliff as they drew closer to it, craning her neck to keep the lighthouse in view. Another light turned on ahead of them, illuminating a dock tucked into the cliff side, and there was a multi-story building alongside it.

A little boy dashed out of the building, and he ran to the end of the dock. He jumped up and down, waving his arms as he shouted:

“Welcome home!”

“Hey, Talcott!” Gladio called back, returning the wave.

Cor waved at the boy, too.

Before they reached a full stop, Gladio hopped off the boat, and Talcott ran at Gladio, jumping up to wrap his arms around his middle. The tall man chuckled, and he hauled the boy up to give him a bear hug.

Aurora wondered who the boy was to Gladio. No one had mentioned a brother or a son to her, but she imagined there were plenty of details she had yet to know about all the people she had met over the last couple of days.

“Where’s your grandpa?” Gladio asked as he tied the boat to the dock.

“He’s in Insomnia,” Talcott said, sounding breathless with excitement. “He stayed home to watch over Iris, but he said I could meet the princess.”

Prompto grabbed Aurora and Ignis’s bags, and he hopped off the boat next. He set one down long enough to shake hands with Talcott as he introduced himself.

“Let’s go,” Cor said to Aurora and Ignis. “I’m sure Cid will love the chance to get a cigar in before he heads to bed.”

“If I don’t, I might kill ya,” Cid said, glaring at the Marshal.

Cor only chuckled. He climbed off the _Royal Vessel_, and he held out a hand to Aurora.

“Thank you, Mr. Sophiar, for returning us home,” Ignis said.

Cid waved a dismissive hand.

“Thank Wesk for that,” he said. “I was jus’ payin’ back a favor to Reggie.”

“It was nice to meet you, _Signor Sophiar_,” Aurora said.

“Come visit after ya have the kid. I have a thousand stories to tell ya about yer pa, and yer goin’ ta need a break after spendin’ time wit’ that brat.”

Cid had already called the King a brat several times during the boat, and Aurora knew who he had referred to just then.

“That would be nice. I’ll try to do that.”

“Good. Now go ‘way so I can smoke.”

Aurora chuckled, and she went to the side of the boat. Cor helped her onto the dock. Talcott’s eyes widened when she looked at him, and his cheeks turned beet red. It startled her when he bowed deeply at the hips, and he shouted:

“Welcome back, Your Highness!”

Aurora wondered if she was ever going to get used to that title.

“My name is Talcott Hester,” the boy continued with his face parallel to the dock. “My family serves the Amicitas, but we’re here for you, too, Your Highness. Ah! I mean, I’m here because my grandpa’s in the city—”

“Cut out the ‘Your Highness’ stuff for now,” Gladio said, tone gentle. “She’s not used to it yet, and besides, it’s not official until we get to the Citadel.”

Talcott straightened, and his face had turned an even brighter shade of red.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness!”

Aurora could not help the chuckle that escaped her at that.

Cor shooed them all off the dock, and he led the way inside the building. There were couches and tables around the bottom floor of the building. Most of it looked just as cheap as the stuff she and Ignis had used in their apartment. They went upstairs, and Aurora’s ankles ached, reminding her she had been on her feet during most of the boat ride.

As they reached the upper floor, two people were descending another flight of stairs, and Aurora’s chest squeezed as she recognized them from the pictures Prompto had shown her before. Everyone else bowed while Aurora’s mind became a whirlwind of a thousand emotions at once.

“Regis?” Cor said as he straightened. “Clarus? What are you doing here?”

The older Shield wore a T-shirt, revealing faded feathers tattooed on both of his arms, and jeans rather than the formal robes she had seen in the pictures, and the King wore dress pants with only a button-up shirt and sleeves rolled up to his elbow.

“You know, Reggie,” Clarus said, voice not as deep as Gladio’s. “Once he gets it in his head he has to do something, he gets it done—protocols and duties be damned.”

Regis leaned on his cane as he scanned the group, green eyes severe until they landed on Noctis. He let out a small gasp, and he stumbled as he rushed forward. Clarus caught his elbow before he fell, but the King pushed him away to get to Aurora.

“Noctis,” he gasped, and he reached out his hands to her, letting his cane fall with a clatter. “It really is you, isn’t it?”

Aurora flinched. As she took a step back, his hands grasped hers, squeezing them between his own, and she could no longer act on her impulse to hide behind Ignis. Tears slipped from his eyes and soaked into his beard. She felt her own eyes heat with tears, and she looked away, pangs rising in her chest.

Aurora recalled all the times as a little girl she had imagined what it would be like to meet her father. With no other reference, she had imagined a face similar to her own and bearded, and it was funny she had been accurate. Now that she was face to face with him, she realized that she was in the presence of a King, and he knew her as a little girl who no longer existed.

Someone cleared their throat.

“Regis,” Clarus said, “we should let everyone get settled, and I know you wanted to say ‘hello’ to Cid.”

The King loosened his grip on her hands, and he let out a shaky exhale. Aurora glanced at his face, and he gave her a shaky smile. After a gentle pat, Regis released her, and he turned to the others, nodding in thanks as Talcott handed him his cane.

“I hope everyone is well?” Regis said, his voice turning more commanding, more kingly.

“No casualties, Your Majesty,” Cor said, “and we are confident that the Empire knows nothing about us being there.”

“Good,” Clarus cut in. “Continue to monitor the tapped radio signals to be sure.”

“Of course.”

“Dustin and Monica are at the house preparing dinner. You kids should get cleaned up and settled in for the night. Regis and I wanted to visit with Cid for a bit.”

Cor grumbled something about not being a kid, and he was the first to walk up the stairs. Clarus and Gladio hugged, and then the younger Shield followed Cor up the steps with Talcott at his heels.

“I’ll, uh, take these to your room, I guess,” Prompto said, nodding to Aurora and Ignis.

“You don’t have to carry those, Prompto,” Ignis said.

“Nah, I got it. See you in a bit!”

Prompto gave Regis a quick bow before he passed him, and he left Aurora and Ignis alone with Regis and his Shield. Aurora looked at the King, finding his tearful gaze on her again.

Clarus stepped in front of Aurora, who craned her neck to meet his gaze. He was not as tall as his son, but he still had an intimidating presence, softened by the tear tracks staining his cheeks.

“It is good to see you again, Your Highness,” Clarus said, and he gave a slight bow.

The gesture was twice as strange coming from him as it had been from Talcott.

“And Ignis,” he continued, “I am relieved that we could finally locate you as well.”

“I’m relieved to be home, sir.”

Clarus nodded as he clapped a hand over Ignis’s shoulder. He turned back to Regis, whose chin quivered beneath his beard as he struggled to keep his composure.

“Let’s go, Reggie,” Clarus said as he returned to the King’s side. “Let’s not hold up the kids.”

“We’ll see you at dinner, Lord Amicitia, Your Majesty,” Ignis said, bowing.

Aurora imitated the gesture.

“Enjoy the rest of your night,” Regis said, voice calm despite his tears.

Aurora and Ignis watched as Clarus and Regis descended the steps. When they heard the men muttering from a distance, Ignis turned to Aurora, and he spoke in the language was most comfortable with:

“You did well.”

“How?” Aurora scoffed, but she was glad to return to Altissian. “I just stared at him like an idiot.”

“You need time to adjust to everything.”

Aurora shook her head at that, and tears spilled down her cheeks.

“Shouldn’t I have hugged him?” she asked. “He’s my father.”

“He’s a powerful person and a stranger to you, and I know how rare it is for you to open up to people. Prompto is one of the rare exceptions to that rule. Even I struggled to get you to trust me, and I suspect that only happened because you knew I wasn’t ever going to leave you alone.”

Aurora smiled as she recalled all the times he had visited her in the middle of the night, and the pangs in her chest eased.

“And yet,” she began, “it was so hard to convince you I was really in love with you and not just brainwashed or whatever you called it.”

Ignis sighed, but the corners of his mouth turned up.

“You always have to remind me about that, don’t you?”

Aurora stepped up to Ignis, and she slid her arms around his neck. Her belly pressed against him, and their unborn child fluttered.

“I have to remind you because you have this annoying habit of keeping a distance from me whenever you think I’m upset at you.”

Ignis frowned at her.

“Why wouldn’t you be upset with me? I’ve kept such an important secret from you.”

“I still love you, Didi. I’ll get used to this new life, but I don’t want to think about being away from you. You’ve always been the one thing in my life who has kept me sane until you decide for me I need distance from you.”

Ignis sighed again. He lowered his forehead to hers, and he slid his arms around her, pressing her tighter to himself.

“Ah, so there is my arrogance again,” he said. “My apologies.”

“You’ve always taught me to talk about my feelings with you, and you make it harder when you do that, you know?”

“I’m sorry.”

“And it’s okay for you to talk to me, too. Your feelings matter to me. It’s not just a one-way relationship between us.”

“I appreciate that, darling, even if I’m dreadful at showing you that.”

Ignis leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. She followed his lips as he drew himself away from her, but with her sore ankles, she could not get far.

“Perhaps we should go before everyone gets worried,” Ignis suggested.

Aurora pouted, but she nodded. She grabbed Ignis’s hand, and they walked up the steps to an elevator. A bright light illuminated the interior of the lighthouse that had guided them to Lucis.

They stepped into the night, stepped onto Lucian soil for the first time in twelve years. There was a wildness in the foliage that had never been allowed in Altissia, an island where every plant had been placed deliberately, and as she drew in a breath, an unfamiliar earthy smell struck her nose. She pressed herself closer to Ignis’s side, and he wrapped a long arm around her.

They walked down a stone path that led to an enormous house. Aurora had seen plenty of large buildings in Altissia, but most of them were ancient government buildings, apartment complexes, hotels, museums, and theaters. The Cape Caem house was a mansion. She had seen similar buildings on TV, but she had never considered would be real. Its size only became more overwhelming as they got closer to it.

As they climbed the porch steps, the front door opened. A woman stepped out, the porch light illuminating her gray hair and the crinkles around her eyes as she smiled at them. She bowed at the waist, pressing a fist to her chest.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness, Ignis,” she said as she straightened. “I am Lieutenant Monica Elshett, and if you’re ready, I can show you to your room. Prompto should have brought your things there already.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Ignis said, giving her a half-bow.

Monica nodded, and she stepped back into the house, motioning for them to come inside with a flourish.

The main room was an open-floor concept that showed off a sitting room, a large dining area, and a kitchen. An older gentleman with dark hair and glasses was stirring something on the stove. He bowed to Aurora, introducing himself as “Dustin,” and then he returned to the task at hand. Aurora glanced up at Ignis, whose eyes brightened as he took in the kitchen of his dreams right before him.

“Just this way,” Monica said, and she motioned toward a set of stairs.

They followed her up. The hallway was long with several portraits of deceased royalty lining the halls, and Aurora looked at them and compared her facial features to theirs. Prompto stepped out of his room as they passed it, but while they waved and greeted each other, he let them continue their way to their room. It was all the way at the end of the hall and across from Regis’s room.

Monica pulled out a key from her pocket and handed it to Aurora.

“Should you want your privacy,” she began, “there are only two keys to this room. You get your copy, and Gladiolus has the other. He asked me to tell you he had no intention of using it unless there was an emergency.”

Aurora had never heard of a bedroom within a house needing a separate key from other locks in the house, except in Imperial-banned horror video games, and that thought did not help ease her fears.

“Dinner should be ready in half an hour,” Monica continued. “Dustin and I are not five-star chefs, but I hope you’ll come down and have dinner with us all the same.”

“Thank you,” Ignis said. “We’ll be down around then.”

Monica bowed at the waist, and she walked down the hall, leaving them alone. Aurora glanced at the King’s door. As if she was not already a nervous wreck around him, she also had to worry about disturbing the man while he was asleep.

It felt so unfair.

Ignis tried the handle of their door, and it was unlocked. He opened it, and he fumbled along the wall for a light switch, revealing a vast room with a queen-sized bed, a vanity table, a wardrobe, and a door that Aurora assumed led to the bathroom. There was a bookshelf and a small sitting area that Aurora was certain Ignis would have used well if they had been there on vacation.

Aurora allowed Ignis to pull her into the room, and he shut and locked the door behind them. He went to the other door, and he looked inside, nodding when he confirmed that it was a bathroom just for them.

“Too bad we won’t have enough time for a bath,” he said as he walked to their bed, where Prompto had set their things. “There’s plenty of room for two. Or four.”

Aurora wanted to make the argument that they did not have to go downstairs and eat. Monica had made it sound like she was giving them a choice to join them during dinner. She would have preferred staying in her room with Ignis, but she knew she would get too hungry later to even enjoy the bath if they avoided everyone else.

“Darling, you’ve gone pale,” Ignis said, pausing in digging through his bag. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Aurora said, voice calm.

“Didn’t you just lecture me about pushing each other away earlier?”

That startled a breathy laugh out of her.

“I’m just not sure I’m ready to sit down and have dinner with the _King_.”

Ignis wrapped his arms around her, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“If you don’t want to chat, you don’t have to, and I can bring dinner up here, if you would prefer that. No one would judge you harshly.”

“You can’t speak for everyone.”

“Then, if someone feels harshly about you, they’re not worthy of you.”

Ignis leaned down to kiss her on the lips.

“What do you want to do, darling?” he asked.

Aurora’s cheeks heated as she thought of the way she had acted in front of Regis when she had met him. Her chest clenched again, and she drew in a deep breath, letting it out with a shaky _whoosh_.

It reminded her of how she had felt waking up in the hospital with no idea of where and who she was. She had survived the anxiety then, and she could survive it now, as an adult, with someone she loved at her side.

“I don’t want to disappoint anyone,” she said.

“They can get over it, I assure you.”

“No, I think I should join them, but I need to sit next to you and Prompto.”

“I’m sure we can arrange that.”

After a quick kiss, Ignis went to draw himself away, but Aurora wrapped her arms around him. He quirked up his eyebrow.

“Thank you,” she said. “This helps.”

Ignis’s face softened into a look of deep love that made her heart flutter.

“I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Aurora lifted her heels, and she kissed him before letting him break away. They dug through their bags.

* * *

-_The Next Morning_-

Aurora wished her new magical abilities included becoming a social genius overnight. Dinner had been just as much of a disaster as meeting the King had been. She had stared into her plate, listening to Prompto talk about all the cool places they needed to visit on their way to Insomnia, and she must have spoken only one or two words during the entire occasion. Every time she had looked up, her eyes had found Regis’s, and the man looked at her with so much relief and sadness that her heart broke for him even as she could not maintain the look for long.

No one admonished her for it, but Aurora’s cheeks burned every time she thought about it.

Ignis had been sweet enough to bring breakfast up to their room before waking her to start the day, and he ran a bath for them. He distracted her in the most delicious way, and she hoped she had kept her voice low enough not to disturb anyone.

Then, they had to leave for Insomnia, and Aurora was a tense bundle of nerves again as she walked with Ignis down the gravel pathway from the Cape Caem mansion. Trees blocked their view of their destination ahead. Gladio and Prompto had left to put everyone’s bags in the cars, and it would just be the four of them until the King was ready to leave.

“Everything’s all right, darling,” Ignis assured her.

“I know,” Aurora sighed. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a mess.”

“Nonsense. I didn’t exactly prepare you for any of this. You’re doing well despite the circumstances.”

“You would say that even if I was crying and pulling my hair out.”

“True, but still, you’re doing fine.”

Ignis pulled Aurora to a stop to plant a kiss to her lips, and he pulled away far too soon to continue their journey.

They entered the parking lot. There only were three all-black cars and two Crownsguard wrestling each other. Gladio had Prompto in a headlock while he ruffled the poor boy’s hair, and he paused when he heard Aurora’s boots kicking gravel.

Gladio grinned as he waved at them with the hand that had demolished Prompto’s hair.

“_Buongiorno_,” he said.

“_Buongiorno_,” came Prompto’s muffled greeting, and he tried his best to wave at them while he was tucked into Gladio’s armpit.

“I see you two are busy this morning,” Ignis called.

“Yeah, just teaching this punk a lesson,” Gladio said.

Prompto complained as Gladio ruffled his hair more, slapping at Gladio’s arm until the larger man finally released him. The blond huffed, face beet red, as he attempted to fix his hair. Aurora failed to hold back a chuckle.

“Hey, come check out your car,” Gladio said as he went to the sports car sitting in between an SUV and a vintage car with a rather sinister-looking skull and a crown on the hood. “This was a gift from someone at the Citadel, someone who didn’t have the clearance to come meet you here.”

Noctis frowned as she looked at the car, wondering why on Eos someone would give her a vehicle knowing nothing about her. She was afraid to ask how much it cost.

“I don’t know how to drive this,” Noctis said.

Gladio shrugged a large shoulder.

“You can learn,” he said. “No big deal. Iggy, too.”

“Oh!” Prompto exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Can I teach them? I’m a—”

“Hell no.”

The blond pouted at the larger man.

“What? Why? I’m a decent driver.”

“She’ll learn from Cor, just like I did, and honestly, I’ll recommend you tag along to learn a thing or two yourself, speed demon.”

“I love how a guy famous for crashing the Regalia can drive the King around, but someone who has never gotten so much as a ticket can’t to drive the Princess around.”

Aurora’s eyebrows flew to her hairline at that first bit.

“Quit bitchin’. You haven’t earned my trust yet.”

Prompto’s freckled cheeks turned scarlet with indignity, but before he said anything else, they heard the sounds of crunched gravel. They all turned to find Cor leading the royal entourage and Cid to the parking lot. Talcott ran past the adults, pausing for a moment to bow to the King, and he went up to Noctis.

“Good morning, Your—I mean, Noctis!” he greeted, eyes bright with excitement.

“Good morning,” Aurora said, voice low as she became hyperaware of her father approaching them.

“I wanted to ask you if I could ride with you to Insomnia!”

Aurora looked at Ignis, who nodded, Gladio, who shrugged, and Prompto, who also nodded. She turned back to the little boy.

“Sure, why not?”

“Yes! I’ll tell Monica!”

Talcott gave her a toothy grin. He spun on his heels and ran to Monica as she approached the SUV alongside Dustin. As Aurora watched him, she caught Clarus in the corner of her eye, helping Regis along as his visibly swollen knee made it difficult for him to walk across the gravel. The King kept a stoic look on his face, but every few steps, his eyebrows and mouth twitched as he hid the pain.

Clarus pulled the King to a stop, letting him lean on him, and Regis’s shoulders lowered with relief. He turned his green eyes up to Aurora, and the serious look melted into sadness again.

“Good morning, Noctis, boys,” he said.

The men bowed as they greeted him, and Aurora felt her cheeks heat as she rushed to do the same.

“Let’s get going,” Cor said as he leaned against the side of the older car with the skull. “We need to make it to the city before sundown.”

“Ignis, you’ll be riding with Dustin and Monica,” Clarus said, voice stern.

Aurora jolted, tightening her hold of Ignis’s hand, and Ignis frowned as he looked at the older men.

“Pardon?”

“Safety of the princess,” Clarus said, but it made little sense to her.

“Dad, come on,” Gladio said.

“Gladiolus, know your place.”

The younger Shield gave his father a cutting glare, and he crossed his arms over his chest. He said nothing. Clarus sighed, but he guided Regis to the older car. Noctis knew she would be the only one allowed to speed, being in a higher position than all but one person.

One look at the King closed her throat, and she last her chance.

“Perhaps,” Regis began, turning to his taller friend, “we could allow the children to come home a day or two late to explore the country. As long as they stay in touch, of course.”

Clarus and Cor looked at each other, having a silent conversation with each other before Clarus shrugged.

“As long as they stay in touch,” Clarus agreed.

Noctis wished he had said “no.” She did not want to explore anything with her fiance at her side. It felt wrong. He had told her so much about it while they had been children.

“We’ll keep up regular check-ups, sir,” Prompto said because Gladio was still giving his father a scathing glare.

“All right,” Cor said as he slid into the front seat, “let’s go.”

Ignis gave Aurora a forced smile as he leaned down, and he kissed her. Anxiety tensed up her body again, and she forgot to return the kiss as she focused on holding back the urge to hold on to him.

“I’m sorry, darling,” he said. “We have to split up now, but we’ll be back together once you reach the Citadel.”

“I don’t want us to split up.”

“I know, darling, but it’ll work out just fine.”

Ignis kissed her again, and Aurora surged up to meet his lips. Her chest ached when he walked away, and she pressed her hands to her stomach, the only form of comfort she had now. She watched him climb into the back seat of the SUV, and he gave her another forced smile as he waved at her through the window.

“Hey, Rory,” said Prompto in a soft tone. “We should probably get going, too. Figure out a plan and stuff.”

Aurora sat in the back seat next to Talcott. She felt the pangs of guilt as she saw the concerned look on the boys’ face. He had been so excited to travel with the lost princess, but she had lost any amount of enthusiasm for the trip the moment Ignis had stepped into the SUV.

“Are you sure you have enough leg room, big guy?” Prompto asked.

“Enough to drive. You’re not driving with Noctis or Talcott in this car.”

Prompto pouted, crossing his arms over his chest, but he made no more arguments.

Gladio turned in his seat. His expression was serious.

“I’m sorry they put you guys in separate cars,” he said. “I tried to talk them out of it, but my dad wanted to have Dustin and Monica drill Ignis with questions.”

Aurora wished she could have found comfort in Gladio’s apology, but the pains in her chest did not ease. She took a deep breath before she spoke:

“He’ll be all right, won’t he?”

“Yes, he’ll be fine. He’ll be waiting for you at the Citadel when we get there.”

Gladio gave her a sad smile, and Aurora could only turn away, looking at her stomach. She heard the Shield blow out a sigh.

“So, where are we going?” Gladio asked as he messed with a computer in the middle of the dashboard, bringing up a map. “I guess we have to take a mini-vacation now. King’s orders. Talcott, any suggestions?”

The little boy’s eyes lit up at the question.

“Lestallum!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, we could make it there before nightfall.”

“Oh, can we stop at Old Lestallum?” Prompto asked with much less enthusiasm than the little boy. “That’s where Crow’s Nest started, and I’ve been dying to go there my whole life.”

Gladio snorted.

“It’s on the way to Lestallum,” he said. “Sound like a good idea, everyone?”

Aurora had no idea what any of those places were, and she said nothing. Talcott gave his enthusiastic consent. Gladio nodded as he checked the rearview mirror, and he backed out of the parking spot.

“Make sure we go over Taelpar Crag,” Prompto added. “I _need_ to check that place off my bucket list.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m considering changing the title to “Take me Back to Altissia” or “The Lost Princess.” I hate the current title, but I don’t feel like the possible new ones are much better.
> 
> Has anyone else watched the FFXVI trailer? I’m pretty excited to see it’s more medieval than scifi-ish this time around. Although, I’m trying not to be excited so early, especially since I don’t even know when I’ll be able to get the game.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Comments, whether complaints or praise, and kudos are much appreciated and very encouraging! I could do with a little encouragement after this exhausting month. *sigh*


End file.
